Inside Out
by Eksdee
Summary: Shortly after the events of "The Last", the lives of Hinata and Naruto seem to be getting better than ever. Blinded by their dreams finally coming true, they totally don't expect that everything can be changed in a single night. A shadow of their past returns to show them that the time has come to get rid of illusions and to know the real world. And this world can be very dark...
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fan fiction. No profit is being made by the author or any of the associates.  
  
Author's Note: After many long chats with some other authors in this section of the site, I decided to try my hand at a Naruto story. In a way, you could call this a product of collective ideas of many writers, executed and powered by myself with the great help of my dear friend, my beta and co-author. We're out to break some clichés, and our goal is to provide you with a great adult Sasuke/Hinata story; I hope I'll make it happen. You may expect rather frequent updates as the course of the story is already thought through up to its ending, with slight changes added here and there from time to time for the sake of quality.

Also, a small clarification regarding the setting. We're operating under the preposition that pretty much everything that happened in the manga and in The Last movie is canon (except for chapter 700, since the timeline in this story is obviously changed prior to that point). However, as absurd the idea of trying to make something realistic and adult out of a shōnen manga may sound to some, we're going to try just that. Most notably, some of my interpretations of characters' decisions, thoughts and feelings may be different from the most commonly accepted ones as well as the perception of NarutoVerse itself, so bear with it. In exchange, you may expect a very elaborated explanation of every moment that could be labeled as an OOC one by most. Ergo my advise is to just be patient and enjoy the story!

 **INSIDE OUT**

 **By: Eksdee & Oliver Vertran**

 **Prologue**

 _(Approximately one year in the future.)_

The Hokage was waiting.

Usually, he absolutely hated such moments, being widely known for his natural impatience and impulsiveness. But today was a very special case. This time around, he didn't really mind staying a bit longer in this little empty room right next to the tribune where he was supposed to give an important speech just a few minutes later. There, he was going to finally turn into the one every person in Konohagakure expected and wanted him to be. The commander. The leader. The light of hope for countless people who came here this day just to hear him out and to see the living legend first hand.

That's what he virtually was to them, after all. A godlike idol, no less. But now, being completely alone, sitting on the old wooden bench and gently stroking the tiny, slightly crumpled photo he was holding in his bandaged right hand, Uzumaki Naruto felt more weak and lonely than he ever had before.

As though hiding his sorrowful blue eyes from the untimely gentle amber rays of the evening sun which were reaching out to him through the small window, he lowered his head while his finger caressed the beautiful image of the white eyed woman's face imprinted on the small piece of paper. She was looking right at him from the picture, smiling so brightly and happily that it almost seemed as if she were laughing at him just like back on the day when this photo was taken, with her left hand draped over the neck of the raven haired man who was standing next to her, giving Naruto a small yet, without a single doubt, genuinely amused smirk as their eyes met – the Hokage did realize that it was but a picture, of course, but at the moment, their faces seemed just as real and palpable as the relatively fresh memory itself... Even though, at the same time, it felt like this had happened many years ago.

His best friend, and the only woman he ever loved... Together, they were his closest people, the ones who would always have the special place deep in his heart no matter what happened, exactly like horrible scars both of them had left on it. At this point, after everything they had gone through, Naruto wasn't sure if he was even mad at them. Perhaps he simply condemned himself for all of it far more than he could ever blame either of them, or maybe it was just because the brief time the three of them had spent together was far too valuable for the blond man to be able to toss aside this overwhelming storm of feelings he couldn't quite describe even if he wanted to. After all, they'd been with him when he needed them the most... He couldn't force himself to be mad as he mourned their lives alongside his own, even though he realized he probably should have felt angry.

But he wasn't all that innocent himself, after all. He definitely couldn't call himself a martyr – not that he'd ever had such desire, of course.

He looked at the laughing white eyes and smiled as well, feeling the upcoming treacherous tears and rubbing his face with his free hand, feeling slightly embarrassed by his own sentimentality. But, it was such a rare occasion to see her being so emotional and expressive, so liberated and relaxed, just like a bird that'd been caged all though her life and then was finally gifted with the opportunity to fly around carelessly for once... Apparently, her almost euphoric state back then had somehow managed to infect the man next to her as well. Because he couldn't remember Uchiha Sasuke ever smiling like this some other time, neither before nor after that day.

Perhaps his best friend was right, after all. Maybe it was all his fault, since the very beginning. If he hadn't chased his dream so relentlessly and so fanatically... If only had he payed attention to those who _loved_ him instead of those who _needed_ him... If he weren't so paradoxically egoistic in his intention to save as many people as he could, things might have been completely different right now.

 _She_ could've been here, carefully checking the neatness of his clothes the way she'd always done, softly whispering the final inspiring words to him before letting the man go out to his people, knowing that she would be abidingly waiting for him to return to her afterwards.

 _He_ could've been there, standing by his side as he would announce the glorious news to Konoha's citizens, ensuring their ultimate prevalence in the face of the entire ninja world.

And then, the three of them could later have gone to some small and comfy place, just like they always had whenever they celebrated something, important or not.

But, instead...

"Hokage-sama, we have urgent news."

His head snapped as he looked at the female ANBU who was standing at the door, slightly panting – seemed like she'd been in rush.

"Uh... How urgent, exactly? I got very important business here, you know."

"The utmost importance, I'm afraid. We've captured the last one _._ "

His face paled as he gripped the photo tighter, as though attempting to hide this little fragment of his old life from his subordinate, but then deciding that there would be no point in doing so anyway.

"Where?" was all he could squeeze out.

"On the way to your office, inside the residence."

"Alone?"

"Affirmative. We brought the target underground for the time being, just in case."

He closed his eyes for a moment, letting out a heavy, slightly trembling sigh, and then getting up.

"I see. This will have to wait, then. Let's go."

Unwillingly reflecting on the meaning of what was about to happen, Naruto would later not be able to remember anything on their way to the dark room on the lowest level of the massive red building, feeling too overwhelmed with the unstable mixture of feelings he hadn't experienced in a while – probably even never before, being completely honest. But this torture stopped just as soon as he walked into the empty hall with no windows, barely lit by the torches on its dirty walls covered with rust, gore and who knew what else. A disgusting relic of the past, that's what this place was... He would get rid of this atrocity as soon as he would get some time to work on the interior of the residence.

"There, Hokage-sama." The female ninja pointed at the casually dressed slender woman who was lying on her back in the middle of the hall, panting heavily and not looking at the four other ANBU operatives who surrounded her, not moving and neither making any attempts to talk to her.

"I can see, right. Thank you, Hanabi."

The masked kunoichi simply nodded and followed him as he stepped towards the captive, almost afraid to look at her as he approached the woman, but then, to his own surprise, suddenly realizing that he could do it without any difficulties. In fact, oddly enough, he found the sight slightly amusing for some reason that seemed disgusting to him, and it made the man feel even worse than before.

Yes, Sasuke was right. He was no better than Uchiha himself, the man now realized it as clear as ever, feeling absolutely repulsed by his own emotions, or rather the shocking lack of them as he eyed the agonizing person in front of him.

He squatted next to her, studying her snowy white face curiously as if he was seeing her for the first time ever. Strangely, she looked more like some bizarre and incredibly beautiful doll instead of a real human. And she felt like a doll at the moment, too – refusing to give him even the shortest glance as his face was just at arm's length from her own, keeping breathing heavily as the white blouse under the unbuttoned light leather jacket was being slowly soaked with her blood. It was weird, but at this moment when her body was desperately trying to fight imminent death, unable to close her mouth completely as the thin trickle of blood mixed with saliva flowed down her chin and her delicate neck, slowly dripping on the dusty wooden flooring... To him, she looked frighteningly lifeless, and somehow, Naruto was absolutely sure that it wasn't just his impression.

She _knew_ that this was the end. And she'd already given up.

"Well, hello there," he said softly, taking a hankie out of his pocket, but then suddenly stopping himself from the initial intention to wipe her face. "It's been a while, eh. I'm glad you've come. You know, I wanted to see you today... Not like this, of course."

His blue eyes then slid to her right hand – on the floor, just an inch away from her fingers was lying the familiar straight chokutō sword that belonged to his best friend.

The man sighed, shaking his head.

"So... I take it there is no reason to ask _why_ did you come, huh..." As he nodded at the weapon, the ANBU who was standing the closest to it roughly kicked the sword away the same second, which made the dark haired woman on the floor flinch, following it with her eyes but then immediately returning her gaze to some undetermined point in the space in front of her, keeping panting and ignoring everyone around.

"We presume that she came to assassinate you, Hokage-sama," said the familiar male voice which Naruto'd known since the age of fifteen – one of the last people alive whom he still genuinely trusted.

"Obviously," Naruto nodded, returning his gaze to the woman's face. "What did you get her with? And, more importantly, how?"

"Hanabi managed to take her by surprise," the other man replied, "As soon as she entered your office, she–"

"I attacked her right away and thus managed to disable her chakra system. She couldn't have used her eyes to notice me beforehand – she would've got spotted by the sensory type ninjas the same moment, after all. Then I decided to make sure that she doesn't pull something out of her ass, so I hit her with my clan's kinjutsu." He couldn't see the brown haired girl at the moment, yet still the Hokage almost _heard_ the self-satisfied grin on her face.

He then wondered... just what had happened to all of them? How on earth had everything come to _this_...?

"I see. Good job," he praised the kunoichi in spite of feeling disgusted by her and himself at the moment, looking at the face of the bleeding woman once again and frowning both at his own thoughts and at her pained expression. He took some time to study her features thoroughly, as though he were seeing her for the first time in his life, but, in truth, merely trying to memorize every smallest detail of it, knowing that he would not see her again.

Because he couldn't let it happen. She'd proven herself to be his weakest spot. That would be risking way too much for the sake of his personal satisfaction. And that was unacceptable for a Hokage.

"So... It seems like you guys have failed, after all. I'm sorry, but I guess I win." He smiled sadly at first, but then his expression darkened as he saw her clenching her fists at his words, drawing his attention to the small shining thing on her hand.

"Oh, that reminds me...," he muttered, narrowing the blue eyes at the simple golden band on one of her fingers.

With the slightest motion of his hand, the ring disappeared before the woman could react, popping on his palm a split second later – he hadn't used any special jutsu, of course, she simply couldn't keep up with his speed. Nobody really could.

"I'll keep it... as a memento," he informed her as he put the old picture into her now relaxed weak grasp. "You may have this instead. It means much more to you than to me, I believe. After all, that was your birthday, wasn't it? I still remember it as if it were yesterday..."

She didn't react, and the man chuckled without any real joy in his expression.

"You know... As much as I love you... both of you – and trust me, I still do despite everything you guys have done... Sometimes, I feel like I never really knew either of you at all," he stared at the ring for a few seconds, frowning a bit and then gripping it tightly. "But then I realize that it's actually exactly the opposite. The worst part of all this mess is that I know and understand you more than you can possibly imagine. And even though I believe that I already know the answers to these questions, I think it won't be a real farewell if I don't ask you before it ends."

She whimpered quietly, trying to breath in as much air as she could – apparently, her heart wouldn't last long at this rate.

"Please, tell me...," he uttered softly, "After everything he'd done to you, after all these nasty things you'd suffered because of him... After all the pain he'd caused to both of us... After he'd _betrayed_ us... betrayed _you_...," he lowered his eyes, sounding almost like an offended child now, "Why did you still decide to follow his path, in the end? Or rather... _To_ the end?"

He could see the lonely tear flowing down her cheek, and Naruto stopped for a moment, dazed by his old memories and feelings which were rapidly returning into his heart as he thought that he finally saw something coming from the depth of her soul.

 _Regret._ Her expression showed the deepest regret and sorrow.

He let out another heavy sigh, amazed by how hard it all suddenly turned to be for him.

Yes... He hadn't lied. He still loved this woman with everything he had. It would probably remain this way forever, and from the way it looked, he just couldn't run away from her, and, more importantly, from himself. But, perhaps... Just maybe...

He licked his lips nervously, narrowing his eyes at her wounds.

What if he kept her alive right now? What if he gave her another chance...?

After all, if he had achieved something in his life so far, it was his current position. The Hokage. The leader of the strongest and richest country in the world. The most powerful ninja alive, no doubt lingered at this point. He was almost immortal and absolutely unbeatable. And the power he held these days was frighteningly immense...

He could afford a small whim like this, couldn't he? Just... to keep her alive, at least for the time being. To heal her right now and to let her stay in the village, with her own power sealed away, under the strict control of her younger sister, perhaps...

He smiled to himself dreamily at the idea. Yes, this could actually work!

Naruto moved his hand, almost touching her pale cheek as he channeled some of his chakra into to his fingertips, but then the man stopped an inch away from her skin as she suddenly flinched, meeting his surprised and perplexed gaze with a sidelong glance of her tear strained white eyes which seemed to be full of resignation and remorse.

He gave the woman a small reassuring smile, as if asking for her permission to heal her; reaching out his hand as if he were begging her to take it, pleading to accept his help and her own salvation. To accept him once again...

To return to him.

She flinched again, very slowly turning her head to the left to face him, finally looking directly into his eyes for the first time in what seemed like ages.

And then his humble illusion of hope got shattered instantly, completely and for good as her features twisted, and in a mere second the beloved white eyes got filled with the hatred of such incredible degree which he'd probably never seen before, not even from his direst foes.

And this unbridled fury was absolutely heartbreaking.

She raised her head up as much as she could, and then the woman spit right into his face, making him close his eyes reflectively as the man felt a few drops of her almost burning blood land on his skin while the she panted heavier than before, gritting her teeth at him as she leaned backwards, not moving her squinted eyes away from the blond for a second as he straightened his back and got up, tuning to his subordinates.

"I see...," he uttered quietly, unable to look into her eyes anymore – it was just too much for him to withstand.

In truth, he didn't see anything at all, and it was the worst thing about all that had happened. He still failed to understand why she'd made this choice and what could possibly have made her hate him so much, but apparently, she would never tell him anyway, so there was no point in staying there any longer.

Could it be that she still considered him, Naruto, a traitor...? Was that just how much Sasuke had brainwashed her?

He clenched his fists, closing his eyelids.

 _No matter._ He had tried his best to convince her in the past, and with so much at stake, with the degree of responsibility he had now, he couldn't be tempted by his personal ties to put them higher than the safety of the village. Be it his his friend, his lover, or even his own child... Konoha was above everything now.

So, he just had to get over it once and for all. Because this was the end of their story, he decided.

"Take her away," the man ordered, putting the small ring into his pocket and turning around.

"More specifically...?" asked Hanabi casually, stepping closer to her sister and looking at the Hokage's back.

Naruto hesitated for a moment, glancing at the ANBU over his shoulder grimly.

"Lock her up in a cooler and leave her alone," he finally said in a few seconds.

Of course, he still couldn't force himself to order her execution even though this was what he most definitely should've done, and it was yet another testament of how significant this weakness of his, in fact, was.

"Anything else?"

He then turned away and strode towards the exit without looking back.

"No. She deserves to meet her end in darkness and solitude. Just like _him_."

* * *

 **As they say, everything that has a beginning has an end. And sometimes, when you think that it's already over, you may turn to be quite wrong about this as well as about many other things on the matter. And to understand what exactly was your mistake, the best possible choice would be to look where it all started...**


	2. Wrong Turn

_"The dark is generous, and it is patient, and it always wins._ _  
_ _It always wins because it is everywhere._ _  
_ _It is in the wood that burns in your hearth, and in the kettle on the fire;  
it is under your chair and under your table and under the sheets on your bed.  
Walk in the midday sun, and the dark is with you, attached to the soles of your feet._ _  
_ _The brightest light casts the darkest shadow."  
_ **  
― Matthew Woodring Stover** _  
_ **  
**

 **Chapter 1. Wrong Turn**

Hinata swallowed heavily, carefully avoiding her father's harsh, searching gaze and gripping Naruto's hand like there was no tomorrow. Their fingers intertwined while the two teens were standing in front of the older ninja who was glaring at both of them, making the younger ninjas feel quite intimidated even though it wasn't very notable for the jinchūriki – not that he wasn't feeling nervous, of course. The kunoichi knew for a fact that he was probably far more stressed than herself right now, but thankfully, Naruto, of all people, knew how to suppress his emotions in the face of a struggle.

"So," finally uttered Hiashi, shifting his gaze from his daughter to the blond shinobi who smiled awkwardly, scratching his nape with his right hand that was, as usual, wrapped in dirty white bandages, "You are asking for my permission for you to court my daughter. Is that correct?"

"Eh...," drawled Naruto perplexedly, looking at Hinata who in turn glanced at him fearfully. "I guess, uh–"

"He means dating me," she whispered quickly, making Hiashi roll his eyes for a moment.

"Oh! I see! I mean, yes, of course, that's why we came here in the first place!" Uzumaki smiled even more brightly and giggled, clearly feeling even more embarrassed now yet still trying to pull a careless expression.

"Hm-m...," Hiashi scratched his chin thoughtfully before looking at his daughter again. "This might lead us to some... complications."

"I'm not afraid of any difficulties! I'll do whatever it takes to be with Hinata-chan, trust me, old man Hyūga!" Naruto's usual self-assured smirk apparently irritated the clan's head a little bit, and although Hinata knew for a fact that Hiashi actually liked the boy and was on rather friendly terms with him, especially after Naruto had saved her from Toneri, she still couldn't help but worry about any single thing that could possibly go wrong in this long awaited and feared fateful conversation.

"This is not about _you_ at all, Naruto-kun," said Hiashi, frowning anxiously. "I need some time alone with my daughter. Be so kind and leave us for a while, I must to talk to her alone. I shall voice my decision right afterwards."

"Uh... roger that!" Naruto gave a sorry glance to his girlfriend before letting go of her hand and smiling to her reassuringly, walking out of the room a second later.

As soon as he left, Hiashi let out a long, loud sigh, meeting the troubled yet vigorous gaze of his beloved daughter's eyes.

She had grown a lot since the time of the war, without a doubt, both in her appearance and her personality. No longer was she that overly shy girl who'd always seemed to be afraid of her own capabilities. Instead, he could see a strong, beautiful woman was standing in front of him right now, not giving away any signs of hesitation or fear. Apparently, he'd figured the situation out correctly – she hadn't told the jinchūriki what exactly would she have to sacrifice for the sake of spending her life with him. And the reason to her nervousness wasn't 'the talk' itself at all, but rather...

"I take it, you do understand what exactly it would mean. You being in this kind of relationship with this boy, that is," he said softly, to which Hinata nodded the same second.

"Yes, father. I love him, and I am more than ready to go for this sacrifice."

Hiashi shook his head, pursing his lips.

"Just to make this clear. I do not assume that this is just a child's play, knowing you. This has to be very serious, am I correct?"

She nodded again, unable to suppress a proud smile.

"Yes, father. It is."

Hiashi gave her an approving nod in return and said:

"Therefore you are going to marry him at some point in the future."

Hinata bit her lip, lowering her eyes.

"We... we haven't discussed this... yet. But... I think so," her lips curved into a small smile at the tempting idea, once again showing Hiashi how much she desired this to happen, to his relief.

"In this case, you would be unable to claim your heritage. Surely, you will not be branded, but it would still make you a part of another clan. Another family. Do you understand what it means?"

She nodded again, this time a bit more slowly as her smile faded away.

"Yes. I do. I am ready."

He sighed again, closing his eyes.

"You've grown into a wonderful person, my daughter... You sure have made me very proud. I have no doubt in you judgment and your decisions, and thus... you have my blessing."

She almost jumped on her spot, clapping her hands and letting out a quiet squeal of delight.

"Thank you... Thank you, father! Thank you so much!" She charged toward the man, as though intending to hug him, but stopped midway, lowering her hands and blushing before looking away shamefully.  
It wasn't a common thing for the two of them to share any physical contact. Actually, Hinata could hardly remember this ever happening due to how strict family relationships in their clan traditionally were, and theirs was no exception, obviously.  
Which was why it made her gasp in surprise when Hiashi strode forward, putting his hands on her thin shoulders and pulling the girl into a tight, warm embrace.

"I am not going to waste our time on silly warnings regarding your relationship with the boy. Beside that, I trust Naruto-kun, both as a friend of our clan and as our future Hokage. Still, I want to make a single request."

Hinata smiled happily as he let her go before stepping backwards and leaning on his desk.

"Of course. What is it, father?"

Hiashi remained silent for a few seconds before he finally opened his mouth, apparently choosing words very carefully as he said:

"Please, do not rush anything. Enjoy and embrace every day, every moment of your life, and do not try to get everything at once. This is all I am going to ask."

She blushed slightly again, nodding slowly in understanding.

"Of course. I promise. I will do as you say."

Hiashi smiled in relief at long last before suddenly activating his Byakugan and looking downstairs through the walls of the house.

"Very well, then. I suggest you go to Naruto-kun now. He seems to be a little bit too nervous, I'm afraid he might faint soon at this rate."

Hinata gasped, activating her own dōjutsu and covering her mouth with her palm the next second, suppressing a foolish giggle as she saw her boyfriend walking back and forth really fast across the spacious hall, clearly not realizing that he could very well be watched by anyone in this place, and mumbling something very quickly and quietly – probably talking to his tailed beast, she realized.

"I... I'll see you later, father!" She turned around, rushing towards the stairs and deactivating her eyes. Although Naruto would most likely not notice it, and even less likely so would he bother to think about it, she still didn't want him to know that she'd seen him being in this funny state that was so unusual for him who never wavered or feared anything in the world.

It took her just a few seconds to reach him, and just as she expected, as soon as the young man noticed her, he rushed towards the girl and gripped her forearms, almost shaking her impatiently.

"So, so, so! What did he say, Hinata-chan? Is everything alright? I hope it is, because I'm hungry as hell, I could eat an elephant right now! Oh jeez, I guess I'm rambling again...," he mumbled, blushing and smiling apologetically.

Hinata smiled at him, touching Naruto's cheek softly which always miraculously made him calm down, and this time was no exception – the ninja's features relaxed almost immediately, and now he just looked at her expectantly, his eyes full of hope and love.

"Yes. He gave us the permission to date."

He gasped in disbelief, seemingly shocked for a second before suddenly bowing down and picking his girlfriend up in the air, holding her in his arms like a bride, which made her yelp loudly in surprise.

"This is awesome! I love you so much!"

"Oh... I–I love you too, Naruto-kun! But... please... could you put me down?" she said quietly, blushing and looking away. "Everyone here has Byakugan, so... we could be watched...," she finished the sentence in almost a whisper, and although she knew that Naruto probably couldn't care less about anyone observing their moment of happiness, he respected and knew her well enough to understand why she felt so uncomfortable about it.

"Sure!" he kissed her softly on the lips before putting her back on her feet and gripping her hand tightly with his non-bandaged one. "Can we go and celebrate it now? I'm really dying to hunger!"

She giggled lightly, nodding at him.

"Of course. Let's go get you some ramen, shall we?"

"Yay! Ramen! How did you guess that it is what I wanted?" He smirked, making her chuckle as well at the obvious irony.

"I have a good intuition."

"Ah, true that! Anyway, let's go already!"

They walked quickly towards the gates of the estate, leaving the territory of the Hyūga clan shortly and then coming to the streets of Konoha which were lit up by the bright sun up in the clean blue sky. The light breeze that accompanied Naruto's infectiously cheerful mood perfectly played with long strands of Hinata's dark purple hair, making it seem like this day just couldn't possibly get better for the two of them.

"Oy... Naruto, Hinata! Come over here!" They flinched simultaneously as they were walking towards Ichiraku's, turning around and instantly spotting Naruto's teammate, Sakura, who were waving at them from the table of some coffee shop at the end of the lane.

Naruto frowned, clearly not very fond of the idea of someone bothering them at the moment. Surely, should it have been any other day, he would never feel this way towards the pink haired girl of all people, because aside from being his teammate, she was also one of his best friends, but right now... the timing was truly unfortunate, and as polite and kind as she was, even Hinata had to admit it to herself.  
She turned to glance at the blond's face in a silent question, and just as she did it, something in his expression changed dramatically. Instead of looking baffled and displeased, he simply stared forward in disbelief, looking so lost that it was almost as though he forgot about his girlfriend's presence at all – she could also feel his grasp on her hand soften a little bit.

Wondering what could possibly have shocked him so much, Hinata squinted under the sun, looking in the same direction as him, and only then did she realize the reason to his downright stunned state.  
Right next to Sakura, sipping something from a small cup, was no one else but Naruto's best friend whom they hadn't seen in over three years.

Uchiha Sasuke.

The young Hygua sighed, albeit smiling sadly. It explained everything...

"Hinata... it's him!" Naruto half-whispered, gripping her hand even more tightly than before. "He's back!"

"Yes," she nodded in agreement, feeling the immense wave of overwhelming joy filling her beloved one as his mysterious friend turned towards them, giving he pair an impassive gaze before looking away again, returning his attention to his drink. "Let's come to them?"

"Sure... sure, damn it!" He let go of her hand, and they both ran towards Uzumaki's former teammates, reaching them in no time and trying not to knock anyone down on their way as there was quite a lot of people walking around.

There were only three stools, but Naruto was courteous enough to pull another one towards the free one which he decided to occupy, letting Hinata sit down first before plopping down himself, making the wooden piece of furniture creak plaintively under his weight.

"You bastard! When did you return? Why do I have to find out after Sakura-chan? Where have you even been for so long? Tell me, damn you!"

"None of your business," snapped Uchiha, closing his only visible eye as his left one was covered by his long black hair. "I did some important things."

"Hey! What the hell? What kind of important things? It's been three years, damn you! I was beginning to think you were not going to return!"

"I was beginning to think so myself," said Sasuke, and it sounded so indifferent and casual that there was no doubt lingering – he wasn't kidding.

Hinata frowned, noticing how Sakura looked away and bit her lip at his words.

Actually, the white eyed girl could hardly remember Naruto's best friend and her former classmate. Moreover, she didn't think they'd ever shared a conversation all though their lives, yet still her boyfriend had told her quite a lot about this man. Despite having a very kind and caring heart according to Uzumaki's words, he certainly wasn't a nice person to say the least. And it was definitely not the way one greeted an old friend, especially having not seen him for so long.

"So... anyway. When did you return, again?" mumbled Naruto, sounding a lot less enthusiastic now, visibly saddened by Sasuke's behavior.

"A couple days ago," he sipped his green tea again, putting the cup back on the table then. "I've been dealing with a few things within the village until this morning. Lucky me, Kakashi appointed me for a mission as soon as I returned. It is almost done now, so I have nothing to do at the moment."

"Nothing to do, my ass! What do you mean nothing to do? Where do you even live nowadays?" asked the blond loudly, frowning at his friend who simply shrugged as if it didn't matter to him at all.

"In a motel."

"Bullshit! We're gonna get you some house. And celebrate your return, of course! Damn you, bastard! You haven't changed at all!"

"I take it as a compliment, seeing as you haven't changed either."

"Oh, you have no idea how wrong you are here!"

"Please. You never change, Naruto."

"Oh, you–!" The Hyūga kunoichi smiled, seeing as Sakura propped her chin in her hand and rolled her eyes at the two of them before giving the other girl a sorry smile.

The two shinobi kept bickering for a good minute before Naruto finally got up, pointing at Uchiha's face with his finger and blurting:

"Get your sorry ass up now and let's go find you a decent place to live, damn you!"

Sasuke smirked, suddenly moving his gaze to Hinata which made her eyes widen cautiously a little bit.

"What? Not even going to introduce me to your girlfriend? I'm offended. And here I thought I was welcome back."

"Huh? She's not my...," Hinata felt her heart skipping a beat at the beginning of his phrase, "Wait, actually, she is now! Ugh...," Naruto scratched his nape in confusion, frowning at Hinata who raised her head to look at him, smiling at the teen. "Stop it, you bastard! What introductions do you need, for gods' sake? She was our classmate, this is Hinata! Hyūga Hinata!"

"Hn," Sasuke eyed her up and down neutrally, making the dark haired kunoichi feel a bit uncomfortable for some reason she couldn't quite understand herself. "I don't remember her. But I guess it means that she knows who I am, so we don't have to waste our time on formalities. Later," he said to Sakura, getting up and following Naruto who kept jabbering without pause as they walked away from the girls, disappearing in the crowd soon.

"What a nice reunion," muttered Sakura sarcastically, clearly feeling a bit awkward in this situation, just like Hinata herself.

"Well... They haven't seen each other for so long, so... I guess it makes sense that they act this way..."

"Oh, they always act this way, mind you. Actually, if I didn't know better, I would never have thought that Sasuke was actually away from the village at all."

"Uh... I... Well, it is still good, isn't it? Naruto-kun is certainly happy to see Sasuke-san, and... well..." She looked away, not sure if she even understood the situation right.

Sakura's clearly displeased face softened at her words, making the pink haired kunoichi smile at her warmly.

"Sasuke is happy, too. Trust me, they are probably going to go for some long ass nostalgic trip now, so I guess we shouldn't expect them to show up today."

"Oh..." Hinata sighed sadly, lowering her head and putting her palms on her knees. "I see."

Sakura frowned, looking a bit baffled now.

"You look quite upset. I'm sorry, I should've known better than interfering whatever you guys were doing like this. You two were in the middle of something important, were you not?"

Hinata nodded slowly, smiling timidly at the reminder.

"Yes. We've talked to my father, and he allowed us to date. It is very important for both of us."

Sakura gasped, covering her mouth with her palm before getting up and coming close to the Hinata, hugging her tightly which made the girl flinch and gasp in surprise as well.

"Oh, gosh! Hell, yeah, I know how important it is, Naruto told me before! I'm so happy for the two of you! And Naruto, this moron!" she almost roared, turning her head in the direction where the blond and Sasuke had gone. "How tactless could he possibly be, leaving you like this _now_! What an idiot!"

"He... he is not an idiot, Sakura-san... He simply missed Sasuke-san so much, and–"

"Oh, come on! _You_ are his girlfriend, not Sasuke, damn it! You are supposed to be more important!"

"Uh... am I? Hinata frowned before smiling once again, feeling the familiar warmth filling her heart again as she realized that Sakura was right. "I suppose you have a point."

"Damn right, I do!" The medic-nin put her hands on her sides, still glaring away angrily. "Don't worry, though. You'll get the celebration you deserve. Let's go!"

"Go? But... where?" Hinata whimpered as Sakura gripped her wrist and pulled her towards the exit.

"To my place, of course! But first, we're going for some shopping! We'll make sure that Naruto regrets leaving you alone like this, trust me!

 **-~o0o~-**

Sakura sure hadn't lied. They'd had quite some party, at least by Hinata's standards, and even though it was just the three of them including Haruno's best friend, Yamanaka Ino, to her surprise, Hinata had gotten so tired that she found herself on the couch in some place that certainly wasn't her home as she opened her eyes slowly, belatedly realizing that she was still inside Sakura's apartment.

Hyūga turned her head towards the only visible window, frowning – it was already completely dark outside. She must've fallen asleep, which was no wonder considering how eventful the past day had been – after spending a few hours buying various stuff in multiple stores of Konoha, they ended up here, chatting, eating different dishes and having fun together. However, after taking that glass of wine... apparently Hinata's body couldn't handle the exhaustion combined with alcohol very well.

She got up, putting her bare feet on the cold wooden floor and looking around. The room was dark as well, and judging by the lack of any sound, there weren't anybody else inside the apartment at the moment. Still, Hinata didn't take her time to think about where Sakura and Ino could possibly be at such time. Lowering her eyes to her watch, the girl bit her lip and winced – it was already two hours past midnight, which meant that she was most definitely in trouble now that she hadn't come home in due time as she usually had. Her father was probably very mad right now... maybe even having sent a few of their clansmen to look for her, which she hoped he hadn't – not only that would be quite embarrassing, but she also didn't want her family members to have problems because of her.

Under these circumstances, she couldn't afford wasting any more precious time, so the kunoichi found her sandals near the door and left the apartment right away, walking down the wooden stairs right into the night street.

It was very nice and empty outside. Despite the fact that she was a ninja, it was a rare occasion for Hinata to walk around the village so late at night – actually, she could hardly remember the last time when she'd done this before, so she unwillingly decided to stand still for a few seconds and appreciate the silence and tranquility that surrounded her without a single person visible around – after all, Sakura lived in the outskirts ever since she'd moved from her family's house, so it was no wonder that Hyūga was completely alone there at the moment.

Walking slowly across the shady lane, Hinata frowned soon, deciding to activate her dōjutsu as she began to suspect that she got lost in the darkness. Shameful, but as an excuse, she could say that she wasn't very familiar with this district at all... just like she wasn't very familiar with the map of the rebuilt Konoha in general, frankly.  
Fortunately, there was no movement around her – all the locals were peacefully sleeping in their beds by now, although Sakura and Ino were still nowhere to be seen, which the dark haired girl finally realized.

An uneasy feeling clenched her heart with an iron grasp, sending the roots of fear and doubt deep into it.

Logically, there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of. She was a ninja, and there could be no danger for her anywhere around. Same went for Sakura and Ino – Hinata was sure that wherever they'd gone, they were more than capable of standing up for themselves.

But the feeling was still there. Something was very wrong, she just knew it. Maybe it had to do with her intuition which truly had rarely failed her until now – Hyūga wasn't sure. But the silence of the streets was becoming more and more oppressive with each passing moment. She decided to get to the middle of the village as soon as possible in hopes of just getting to see some people – she was beginning to feel too uncomfortable being so completely alone. Actually, way too uncomfortable for such a casual situation, irrationally so.

She stopped, abruptly turning around and eyeing the dark empty street carefully, even though it wasn't really necessary as she could see literally everything around anyway thanks to the power of her eyes.

There was nobody. But then... in this case, why on earth was she on the brink of panicking...?

Hinata swallowed, taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm down, but then frowning even more as it seemed to her as though for a brief moment, she heard some soft foreign whispering which was so quiet that it was impossible to distinguish a single word.

Hyūga shook her head dismissively. She knew that she was being absolutely ridiculous. There was frankly and literally no reason to feel this way. There was simply nothing to be afraid of, because there was nothing but the gloomy darkness anywhere around. Not a single soul.

But then again... why did she feel as if someone was watching her from the shadows...? Or maybe... perhaps it was rather _something_... maybe the darkness itself...? Or...

Hinata shook her head again, taking a few steps backwards and putting her hand at her heart fearfully as it was beating so fast that it seemed like she was going to have a heart attack any moment now.

She needed to get out of this place as soon as possible. Whatever was there in the dark, the girl simply _knew_ that something nasty could happen any second. Whatever it was, it was after her...!

That's why she decided to run away as fast as she could. Being a trained kunoichi, pretty quickly did she manage to reach the central square of Konoha where there were still quite a lot of people, albeit obviously not nearly as many as there usually were at day time, but it was at least sort of relieving. The creepy whispering stopped, and now she felt almost normal – well, as normal as she could after experiencing something that was probably the most strange and creepy thing that had happened to her since the day when Toneri had abducted her. It was now safe to deactivate the Byakugan, she thought, and did so.

Deciding not to waste any more time as she could see nobody familiar around anyway, Hinata strode quickly in the direction of her clan's estate. People didn't pay any attention to her which also made the girl relax a little bit more – even though she was no longer overly shy, she still didn't like unnecessary attention payed to her by anyone, and fortunately there was none at the moment.

But just as she reached the turn that led to the Hyūga clan's domain, the kunoichi stopped, biting her lip and looking to the left.

Yamanaka clan's place was located not far away, and now that she thought about it, she still didn't know where Sakura and Ino had gone. Perhaps it would be wise to ask Ino's parents... just to make sure that they were alright.

Yes, just in case...

Hinata nodded to herself, turning away from the broad street and passing through the narrow lane that led to the shortest way to Yamanaka's flower shop. Ignoring the rare people sneaking around, she made it to the store in just a few minutes, stopping next to the closed door and raising her head up, frowning as she gripped the metal door handle.  
There was no light coming out of the windows, so there was either nobody inside, or they were simply sleeping which would be only natural considering how late it was.

Unfortunately, it was against the rules of her clan to abuse the power of their eyes to peek inside other people's homes, and Hinata was an honorable person – she respected privacy, so she never did such thing unless it was absolutely necessary. That's why she sighed in defeat, stepping back and clenching her fists in frustration, frowning the next second as she felt something wet and sticky on her right palm.

It was... blood!

Hinata gasped in horror, stepping farther away from the door and anxiously looking around. And just as she did it, she heard the terrifying whispers once again which made her shiver, but since there was an important task at hand, she decided to ignore it for now. The blood was clearly fresh, so whoever it belonged to, the person had to be somewhere nearby. Reasonably deciding that they could need some help, she decided to go against her principles and activated her dōjutsu once more, studying everything around and stopping her gaze on the ground in a few seconds.

The shop was indeed empty. And the small drops of blood were leading away from the building to somewhere in between the small wooden houses that surrounded the place, ending their way at the small hatch that apparently led to the sewerage just a hundred yards away from her.

The kunoichi rushed forward, almost slipping on the small puddle on her way but still managing to retain her balance as she stopped in a few seconds, bowing to lift the heavy cap of the hatch and jumping down into the quiet darkness, not letting her guard down for a second and ignoring the nasty smell coming from under the ground.

She yelped in horror then, covering her mouth with her hands and feeling as her legs began to betray her, suddenly becoming numb and trembling.

They were there. Sakura and Ino, lying on the stone floor a few yards away from each other, both in broad puddles of their own blood. They weren't moving, and... seemingly not breathing, too!

Hinata stormed towards the two girls, falling on the dirty concrete surface of the floor next to the blonde and touching her neck carefully before letting out a sigh of relief and closing her eyes for a second.  
She was still alive, even though the pulse was very weak. Then... perhaps they could still avoid the worst, after all. However, she needed to act really fast, but these... those disturbing whispers...  
The girl held her breath for a moment, trying to distinguish at least a single word. But just as she did so, it became completely mute once again, just like back in the outskirts. The silence of the sewers was only ruined by the sonorous sound of water dropping down from somewhere around...

Hinata gritted her jaw in irritation, feeling as her teeth began to chatter. Just what on earth was going on...?

"Confused, aren't you?" The girl flinched, jumping up and turning around, taking a standard Jūken stance.

There was a masked ninja, although his mask was nothing special at all – just a piece of wood covering his face which, again, was nothing special itself either – at least Hinata definitely hadn't seen this person before.  
It was a man, probably in his late thirties, and apparently he was a shinobi – his skin was pretty scarred, especially on his back, and she could see his pretty strong chakra flowing through his body quickly. Despite the careless posture, he was rather tensed inside, it seemed.

"Who... who are you?" muttered the girl, although she knew that this conversation would most probably never end with anything good anyway.

"Is that really important to you?" his voice sounded mockingly as though he was absolutely assured that he was merely toying with her, being in full control over the situation.  
Well, it probably wasn't very far from the truth, to be fair.

"N-No... not really, I suppose. W-was it you who did this to S-Sakura-san... and Ino-san...?"

The man sneered, chuckling jovially.

"Oh, yes, these bitches... not that I was interested to learn their names, to be quite honest. _You_ were my target since the very beginning, and killing them wasn't the necessary part of the schedule. So, I suppose you can blame yourself for their deaths, eh..."

Hinata glared at him angrily.

"They are not dead yet!"

He cocked his head, smirking again.

"Are you sure? I never thought that surviving with a kunai in your heart was possible," he nodded at Sakura, and Hyūga used her enhanced eyesight to check the pink haired girl's chest before reflectively turning around for a second, barely holding back the urge to run to Sakura to pull the sharp tool out of her body as she realized that it would be futile by now in any case.

"Why... why did you do this? W-What do you want from me?" she cried, feeling her body beginning to shake even more than before.

The man laughed downright merrily this time, clearly impossibly amused by her reaction.

"Who, me? Well, I don't want anything at all. Eh, almost anyway. I'm but a mercenary, you know. I've been watching you for a while by now, but you were always either around your clan's members or with the Kyūbi brat... Lucky me, these dumb bitches inadvertently made you get out of your safe space today, and you, in turn, were silly enough to fall for my bait by coming here. You see, my boss wants your nice pair of eyes, so... I suppose we could call it a night, eh? Mission accomplished, I guess."

"Your boss...?" whispered the girl, falling on her knees as she felt herself losing the last bits of control over her limbs.

It was all her fault. Sakura was dead because of her, and Ino was about to die, too. And so did herself...

 _Sorry, father... I failed you for the last time..._

"Oh, yes, he's quite a douchebag, you know. But he pays pretty well, so I can't really complain. Konoha is not in its prime nowadays, so no wonder that criminal authorities in this country have become so greedy and ungenerous, especially here in the village. Still, at least they don't try to cheat. Say now," he leaned his shoulder against the stone wall of the sewer, crossing his arms, "would you like to have some fun before I finish ya off? I haven't been with a woman for months, and surely that Onikaze jerk can wait a bit more until I bring him your dōjutsu, so–"

"Onikaze, you say? Very well, then. You are of no use anymore." Hinata's eyes widened as she snapped her head at the sound of the distantly familiar voice that echoed in the narrow tunnel, but before she managed to find the face of the voice's owner in the dark, a short and abrupt slice of a long blade chopped the mercenary's head off his neck, sending it straight into the sluggish flow of night-soil as the dead body fell on the floor with a thud.

"Y-you are...!" the kunoichi was speechless as she stared into the burning red eye of her savior who seemed to be not surprised at all by seeing her there.

In fact, he merely frowned as he recognized her face, wiping the blood off his sword and putting the weapon back into its scabbard on his waist.

"You're Naruto's girlfriend, aren't you? Hyūga." She just kept staring at him, feeling at complete loss for words. "What are you doing here? I recall the idiot mentioning that you were supposed to be long at home."

"I–I...," she babbled quietly in a shaking voice, trying desperately to collect herself. "Look, they are... Sakura is... but Ino is still–!" the kunoichi never finished the sentence, pointing at the bleeding blonde with her hand which made Sasuke frown and look down at the floor behind Hinata's back.

Before she could react, he disappeared, and the same split second did she hear a swish of his cloak behind her back. Hinata turned around and watched as the teen knelt down and put his hand on Ino's chest, closing his only visible eye.

"She's still alive," he said then, getting up. "I take it Sakura is dead?" he asked sounding so indifferent that it made Hinata feel even more uneasy than she had in the presence of the goon.

"Y-yes–"

"I see. Go and grab her body, I'll try to save this one meanwhile. I'm no medic, but I can keep her alive at least until we arrive to the hospital."

Hinata simply nodded, having neither any energy nor desire to talk to him, getting up and reaching the cold body of Sasuke's former teammate in a single jump before lowering down again, studying the unnaturally pale face.

The empty jade eyes were blankly staring into the space in front of her, never reacting to Hyūga's appearance, of course.

Suppressing the upcoming sob, Hinata closed Sakura's lifeless eyelids with her shaking fingers, turning her head to Sasuke who was performing some jutsu on the still weakly breathing Yamanaka.

"S-Sasuke-san... what is going on...? How... Sakura-san was so strong, and–"

"Power means very little if your opponent is able to outsmart you." She blinked, unsure if she understood what he was implying. "Sakura was never good at defying genjutsu, and apparently he caught her with one. This girl, too, I reckon. In any case, the investigators will clarify what exactly happened to them, but I think I am right all in all."

Hinata frowned. A genjutsu...?

"B-but how could this happen? How is it even possible... here, in Konoha–" The raven haired teen never looked at her, seemingly not paying Hinata a bit of his attention – actually, she wasn't even sure if he'd heard her question, but she decided to continue,

"I–I mean... He said t-that someone in the village–some criminal–ordered him to do all–all this... and–"

"And what? What exactly is your question?" Maybe it was just her impression, but the tone of his voice now seemed to be turning from indifferent to an annoyed one.

"I don't understand... how can this be true? Konohagakure... it is such a peaceful and secure place, and–" His grim smirk interrupted her, making the girl frown at the shinobi.

"You are even more delusional than Naruto... But that's none of my business. I'm finished here. Be happy that you are still alive and don't come to shady places alone ever again, or else you might get hurt. I won't always be around to save your life." He put the unconscious Ino on his shoulder, coming close to Hinata who was hugging Sakura's body, unable to force herself to get up and just looking at Uchiha, feeling completely lost.

She flinched a bit then as he tapped her forehead with his fingertips, making her feel the small wave of his incredibly potent chakra going through her body before disappearing without a trail.

"You were under his genjutsu, too, it seems. A hallucinating one. Pretty weak, but it was probably how he lured you here in the first place... Unsightly," he muttered, gripping her wrist roughly with his left hand – it was only then that she realized that he actually didn't have his right limb.

"I–I see–"

"Point the direction of your clan's territory."

She gave him a perplexed look, but raised her free shaking hand to do as he told her nonetheless. A split second passed, and they were already in a completely different place, a far more familiar one – the Hyūga estate's yard.

"So long." Having said this, Sasuke vanished along with Ino and Sakura before she could say anything in response, leaving her alone, but at least finally safe.

Still, for some reason, Hinata didn't feel secure. She wasn't sure if she would feel secure in this village ever again.

* * *

 **Nothing goes unnoticed in our lives. Some events may turn everything inside out, leaving us scarred and deformed, and we can do absolutely nothing to prevent it. But perhaps the consequences can turn to be for the better in the end? We shall see.**

 **See you in the next chapter:** **Pandora's Box!**


	3. Pandora's Box

**Chapter 2. Pandora's Box**

"This is absolutely unacceptable," said Kakashi, peering at Ibiki who looked like some delinquent child in front of the Hokage who was having a hard time keeping his anger at bay. "Are you telling me that you are unable to track down a single criminal within the village? And that's with all the resources we have in our disposal?"

The scarred face of the man twisted as he winced, squinting slightly at the justified (in his own opinion) criticism.

"Well, you could ask Uzumaki yourself. They have these new toys...," he glanced at Hinata and Hiashi cautiously, deciding not to elaborate, "well, you know. Those make it impossible to sense them even with the brat's power, and considering that we no longer have a police department–"

"Ibiki, my student and my close friend has been murdered in the middle of Konoha. Moreover, it was the best medical ninja we had since Tsunade-sama had retired, so it will most definitely hurt the village more than you probably imagine. Our current economical situation is shaky enough as it is, and even if we toss personal feelings aside... I must make it clear to everyone here. This attack was more than just a regular crime. It was an act of terror as well as a diversion. I will not tolerate it by any means."

The other ninja nodded, clearing his throat then.

"I understand, Hokage-sama. I assure you that we'll do all that it takes to find the culprit, but I must insist on an interrogation of every witness including Yamanaka as soon as she's back to consciousness."

Sasuke, who had been silently standing near the window for a while by now, gazing upon the early morning streets of the village and seemingly not paying any attention to the heated debate, turned his head towards the the older ninja's at his last line, studying him indifferently for a few seconds before looking away again without any comments.  
However, the barely notable spark of something ill in his expression hadn't missed Hinata's eye, and it made the girl wonder distantly what was he really thinking about Ibiki's rather expected demand. Clearly, Uchiha wasn't going to object which was a good thing in her opinion, because she herself was going to assist the investigation with everything she'd be able to. But Sasuke... she kept telling herself that she should trust Naruto's judgment but still found it very difficult to believe that there was something good in this grim and harsh man's heart.

The way he took Sakura's death was the worst thing about him in the girl's eyes. The deceased kunoichi had once been his teammate, his old friend, maybe even something more (at least according to Naruto's assumptions). Yet still, he showed no sign of grief, or even of sadness at the very least. His expression remained absolutely the same as it'd been the other day, and not that he was just unreadable, no – some emotions were present on his face and in his movements, but they had nothing to do with mourning or compassion. It seemed as though he simply didn't care at all.

But why? How come? How was this even _possible..._?

These questions didn't let Hinata's mind go as well as the cognitive dissonance she was having thanks to her old classmate's behavior. Everything about the last Uchiha was so contrary to what she'd been told by Naruto that she was beginning to have some ridiculous ideas about her boyfriend possibly being under some strong genjutsu that constantly clouded his mind whenever Sasuke was mentioned in any context.

All in all, this person was absolutely unlikable. Well, perhaps in everything but looks, but she certainly wasn't the one to consider this aspect any important. Uchiha Sasuke was the most cold and merciless person she'd ever met, and she wasn't very fond of the idea of having this man around which was probably going to happen anyway now that he'd returned for good, as Naruto'd told her in the morning when he'd showed up in the Hyūga estate after finding out what'd happened at night.

And the way Uchiha'd just glared at Ibiki only made the frightening and repulsing impression even worse. It wasn't very notable, but Hinata'd always been attentive enough to catch it. His eye wasn't filled with hatred or anger, no. It was just slight despise _,_ as if he considered the investigator a mere nuisance, just like he most likely thought of everyone else in the room. They were simply wasting his time, that's what was probably on his mind right now...

"Do whatever it takes, but find and exterminate whoever is responsible. In addition, I want you to double your efforts in regards to our domestic security. It was an S-rank ninja who got murdered within our walls. I'm afraid to imagine what can happen to a civilian at this rate," mused Kakashi, rubbing his forehead tiredly.

"Roger that. Anything else, Hokage-sama?"

"I want to join, too!" shouted out Naruto, looking so overwhelmed with anger and passion that it could seem like his tailed beast's chakra was about to show up. And it probably would have if he weren't a perfect jinchūriki.

"We've discussed this before," replied Kakashi calmly, patiently looking at his protegee, "I need you elsewhere right now. As Ibiki has just said, your sensory abilities are pretty much useless against this threat, and we have more than ample power to handle it as soon as we manage to find them."

"But–!"

"There are no _buts,_ Naruto. This is an order, and my decision is final."

Hinata patted her boyfriend's hand lightly in an attempt to reassure him, watching as he gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in rage and frustration. She knew what he was feeling and thinking right now, and she couldn't blame him at all.

Unlike Uchiha, he couldn't just shrug off a death of his close friend.

"I understand," finally uttered the blond, lowering his head in defeat and giving Hinata a weak grin which made her smile in return as well. She was glad to see that he had control over his emotions now, because the kunoichi knew that it would be mandatory for someone of his temper to learn holding his feelings back if he wanted to become the Hokage one day. "What is my mission, then?" he asked.

"You are going to Tanzaku-gai. Your job is to inspect their current garrison and to bring the results of your analyzes back to me. We need to know how defended our strategical points are nowadays, and this town is one of them."

"Fine," said Naruto, looking very collected now and, fortunately, relatively calm. "When am I to go there?"

Kakashi sighed, shaking his head and looking away.

"Originally, I thought about sending you now, in the morning, but considering the circumstances... I reckon it can be delayed until this evening so that you can attend the funeral. Make sure to get back as soon as possible, though. It shouldn't take longer than a couple days."

"Got it." Naruto nodded before turning to his girlfriend and frowning. "I take it Hinata-chan is going to stay here as well as Sasuke for now? You still need them for that interrogation, don't you?"

"Yeah," Kakashi agreed, sitting down at his desk and grabbing some paper from its wooden surface, studying its contents thoroughly before muttering, "Don't worry, though. We should be done here soon, so no one will be late."

"Fair enough," Naruto sighed, turning around and walking toward the door.

Hinata's compassionate gaze followed his back, but he didn't turn around to add anything else.

"I will do it." Odd, but even in the presence of Naruto and the Hokage his voice still made her shiver slightly, sending the bothersome chill down her spine as saw Uzumaki freeze at this laconic sentence.

Hyūga shifted her head towards the black haired teen, frowning at his nape – just like his blond friend, he didn't turn around as he added:

"I've been looking out for this group since the day I came back. I'll find this man. Spare your resources, Kakashi. They won't be needed."

Hatake turned towards his former student as well, giving him a long measuring squint.

"Are you certain, Sasuke?"

Uchiha looked at the Sixth with slight curiosity.

"Are you not?"

They kept gazing at each other for what seemed like a small eternity as though the two of them were having an invisible duel with their eyes, which technically wouldn't be impossible considering that both of them were dōjutsu users, but then all of sudden, Kakashi looked away, sighing tiredly.

"It's not like I'm doubting your capabilities or your loyalty. Trust me, I don't. But... according to Hinata, you've already killed a potentially valuable witness. Are you sure that you won't cause any... collateral damage?"

Uchiha finally turned around completely, his only hand resting on the hilt of his sword, just as relaxed as he seemed to be in general at the moment. And this was the first time when Hinata actually bothered to study his appearance.

His outfit was very simple, almost ascetic. Aside from a black long sleeved shirt and dark gray pants with a few cuts here and there, he was wearing a dusty patched cloak that reached slightly below his hips. His legs were bandaged from his knees to his ankles, finishing his image with a pair of cheap and dirty wooden sandals. His hair was covering the left half of his face completely, making it impossible to see one of his eyes (if he actually still had it, for Hinata could remember as Naruto had once mentioned something about him having only one Sharingan now). The visible eye was obsidian black, and without his dōjutsu activated, he could honestly be taken for a mere poor traveler by anyone who wasn't aware of his identity. Melting into a crowd certainly wouldn't be a problem for him.

"I've probed his mind before killing him. The only thing I was unable to retrieve on the matter was the name of his client, because I didn't have enough time. Fortunately, he was stupid enough to forget about vigilance when he was attempting to rape Hyūga, so he said the man's name accidentally while he was mocking her. There was no need for him to stay alive after that point," he said it so monotonously that the only thing he hadn't done to finish the image of a completely not caring person would be an indifferent shrug.

His cynical words about what had almost been done to her cut the girl's feelings like the sharpest razor. However, Hinata partly did realize that he had a point, being a ninja on duty. There was no place for hard feelings when they dealt with subjects of their job, yet still...

Couldn't he be at least a little bit more like... like Naruto...?

"Can you confirm this?" asked Ibiki suddenly, turning to the kunoichi as he ripped her out of her thought, to which she nodded perplexedly.

"Y-Yes... he hasn't lied as far as I know."

"Then I think the brat is right, Hokage-sama," replied the ninja immediately, turning to his gray haired superior, "It would be better if we just let him deal with this exact matter while focusing our efforts on fixing our security issues. Besides, I'm pretty sure he wants some revenge now. Can't deny him this right, can you? After all, vengeance is his specialty." Ibiki's mouth twisted in a taunting smirk as he looked Sasuke who met his eyes with an icy cold glare.

"This is not about revenge at all. What's done is done, it should remain in the past and there is no point in thinking about it. Getting rid of these people won't bring Sakura back, but it might prevent other tragedies from happening in the future." He stopped, and it seemed for a moment as though he hadn't quite finished whatever he was going to say, deciding to drop it as it was for some reason only known to himself.

However, his reply seemed to had satisfied Ibiki, because the man then chortled approvingly and nodded.

"You know, I like this guy. Straight to the point. Just the type we've been needing for a while."

"So do I, suddenly said Hiashi, who'd been remaining silent throughout almost the entire conversation, standing behind his daughter's back. "The lack of such approach has led this village to a pitiful state. The situation we are having at hand is a mere consequence. I also believe that it's a splendid opportunity for Uchiha-dono to prove himself to us and to our people." The unusual suffix he applied to the teen's name, acknowledging Sasuke as a fellow head of another clan, didn't miss everyone's ear including Hinata's savior himself. It was unclear how exactly did he feel about Hiashi's words, but he nodded politely nonetheless, so it was safe to assume that he at the very least accepted them.

Hinata bit her lip, feeling torn by her doubts and assumptions. She had finally heard some of Uchiha's thoughts on the matter, and he'd sounded sincere. Just like he always did, though – no matter how many flaws he had, hypocrisy didn't seem to be one of them.  
So, he wasn't completely heartless, after all. Apparently, his attitude was merely a way of suppressing his feelings for the sake of his job. That was quite meritorious and respectable. But still... for some reason, what he'd said made the kunoichi feel even more troubled, except this time it wasn't because of him, but rather...

Herself, perhaps? She couldn't quite grasp it as the girl had yet to fully realize it, but, apparently, something in her views on what it meant to be a true ninja was very wrong.

"Sasuke," said Naruto all of sudden, which made Hinata flinch, because he'd been unusually quiet for a while until now. "I–"

"We'll talk about it later," snapped the raven haired teen, meeting the pained gaze of the blue eyes with a tranquil one. "I will honor the promise."

 _The promise?_

She frowned, realizing that she actually had now idea how things had gone between Naruto and Sasuke yesterday. With everything else that'd happened, it simply hadn't crossed her mind to ask her boyfriend... And now it seemed that it could've been far more important than a simple nostalgic celebration which, again, being completely honest, she couldn't even imagine happening considering how cold Uchiha was about every single thing.

"I know," said Naruto after a short pause, putting his hands in his pockets – a good sign, Hinata knew it, because he only did it when he calmed down. "I just wanted to ask you to do your best. And... thank you."

 _Thank you?_ But for what...?

The girl's eyes widened. Perhaps... maybe she shouldn't have judged Sasuke so quickly, after all. Apparently, the connection between him and her beloved blond was far more deep than she'd assumed all along... and it was clearly mutual, because it seemed almost like they could read each other's mind without saying anything at all.

Her perplexed gaze then stopped on Kakashi who was watching his old students silently, and then Hinata realized that she was right. Although their Hokage still looked incredibly hurt and stressed by the tragic accident, she could swear that she noticed his small smile under the mask that invariably covered the lower half of his face.

"It is settled, then. Sasuke, I entrust this task to you. Naruto, you have your own mission, so I suggest you to go and prepare for departure now. Hiashi-sama, thank you for your attendance, and hopefully you don't mind that Hinata is staying for a while," said the Sixth, looking at everyone in the room.

"Of course, Hokage-sama." The kunoichi turned her head worriedly, watching as her father left the room alongside Naruto who seemed to be deep in his thought now, which was perfectly understandable considering his current state.

"Now then...," muttered Kakashi, picking another paper from his desk. "Everything is pretty much clear except one thing. The genjutsu the killer used to confuse the girls. Sasuke... I need your opinion. I know for a fact that Sakura had very high resistance to genjutsu thanks to Tsunade-sama's training. And you said that the the genjutsu was not even close to top ranked techniques. Your thoughts?"

"It's trivial, really," Sasuke shrugged, "From what I heard from the medics in the hospital, they were both considerably drunk when it happened. I don't think Sakura stayed on guard at night, which was her fatal mistake, it seems. To be honest, until Hyūga has drawn my attention to them, I hadn't even thought that it could be Sakura down there. I'd never expect for someone of her level to fall for such an amateur's cheap trick. Pitiful."

His words felt like a heavy bag of sand slammed against her head, stunning and deafening her. It was rare for Hinata, it truly was. But now she was having a hard time controlling her indignation. How _dare_ he? He was talking about his friend! His teammate! Their old classmate...!

"Indeed... it just shows how rusty we all have become, you are right, kid. It is quite pathetic." Ibiki shook his head shamefully. "Still, as you said, what's done is done. No need to reflect on that, we've got some important job to do. Kindly report any results of your work to me tomorrow in the morning, will ya?"

"Sure," said Sasuke, to which Kakashi nodded approvingly.

"Very well, then. I have no questions left. Ibiki?"

"Yeah, I have one," Morino scratched his chin thoughtfully, turning to Hinata. "When you experienced the effects of this jutsu... You told us that you were hallucinating. But what exactly did you see? Or hear... whatever."

Hinata frowned. Even though she now knew it'd been a mere genjutsu, she was still afraid to remember the horrifying feeling. Never before in her life had she felt so hopeless and weak... so embarrassingly _naked_ in the face of death that'd been incessantly closing in on her, hiding in the darkness. And although it was indeed merely an illusion... it had still felt so real that even thinking about it now made the girl shudder.

"It was whispering...," she finally said quietly, "I couldn't understand a single word of it, but it was as if someone was trying to tell me something... And...," she winced slightly as she tried to remember, "I think... I believe it also affected my decisions. Y-You see... Originally, I wasn't going to look for Ino-san and Sakura-san. And when I was nearly home, I–I suddenly decided to go and find them... But I'd seen no reason to do it just a few minutes prior to that. It–it came out of nowhere, now that I think about it."

"Interesting," drawled Sasuke, making Hinata glance at him in a silent question. "I think I'm familiar with this technique, but it's... unexpected. Still, not impossible, considering that Danzō had a lot of skeletons in his closet."

"What do you mean?" asked Kakashi, frowning at his subordinate.

"What I mean is that as far as my knowledge extends, mind controlling illusions are so complicated that they can only be produced by kekkei-genkai, specifically dōjutsu, which makes it safe to assume that the one I killed wasn't the person who'd performed the technique."

Kakashi's eyes widened

"But you said that the technique was weak–"

"It was. I still think so, because any original owner of these eyes could've easily attained full control over their bodies, and these people only did so much. Besides, I didn't know about this little detail Hyūga has just revealed to us. Until now, it was just a possibility, but now there is solid evidence."

Morino smirked, clapping his hands in amusement.

"Perfect deduction, kid. Well done. Sharingan it is, then."

Hinata looked at the three men worriedly, mumbling,

"B-But... who could have done this? I thought... Wasn't Uchiha-san the only person with this dōjutsu...?" asked the girl, suddenly afraid to look at the teen. She couldn't let him know what she was now thinking, because it was dreadful even to keep it in her own head. Yet still, the question was there now.

What if _he_ was the one who had done it all to begin with?

"No, unfortunately, that is not quite the case," Kakashi sighed, leaning against the back of his chair and draping his hand over it. "Danzō had quite a collection of these eyes after the massacre. And considering that the ninja was after Byakugan, it seems like his client is a dōjutsu collector. It would make perfect sense for him to own a Sharingan, if not more than a single one."

"Then it is _my_ duty to get rid of them," growled Sasuke, and it was the first time when Hinata witnessed him showing _true_ emotions, from the very bottom of his heart.

Whatever reason was behind it, he seemed furious now. And it was... strangely relieving? Also, this mere act of genuine expression washed away her suspicion about him the same instance. Because his thoughts clearly were completely elsewhere. Yes, it was just as she'd initially assumed – he simply didn't care about her, Sakura, Ino, or any of them for that matter.  
She almost chuckled at the cold irony. Apparently, she'd missed the moment when such attitude of someone became a seemingly good thing from her point of view...

"Yes... make sure you do," said Kakashi quietly after writing something down, putting his pen away. "I suppose it's over, then. Sasuke, Hinata, I suggest you to go to your houses and dress up for the funeral... if you are planning to attend it, of course. The ceremony will start in an hour, and we still need to discuss a few things here. Basically, you two are dismissed."

Uchiha strode towards the exit immediately, without replying. The kunoichi bowed down with respect before following him, hesitating for a few seconds but then deciding that she wasn't supposed to be such a coward. He was Naruto's friend, after all. And he _had_ saved her a few hours ago. He wouldn't hurt her now... probably.

That's why she followed him as they walked down the wooden stairs, and although the teen never showed any awareness of her presence, somehow she knew that it was annoying to him. Yet sill, she hasn't changed her direction when they left the Hokage's quarters and went outside where people were already showing up, most of them being apparently not knowing of what had happened in the village while they were asleep.

The two strangers in all but their past kept walking not far away from each other for a while, and it seemed like their houses were located in the same part of the village seeing as Sasuke was obviously not following her, unwillingly leading the way instead.  
It took him a few minutes to lose his patience and stop, turning back and glaring at her with an obviously irritated expression.

"What do you want?"

She stopped as well, almost tripping and taking a deep breath as her eyes widened at his quiet and perfectly calm voice.

What did she want, really? It wasn't like she craved to share a conversation with this strange man by any means, no.  
However... she realized that she indeed wanted to tell him something.

"I... I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

This simple question made Hinata feel confused as she frowned at him. For all she knew, stupidity was never a quality of the infamous Uchiha Sasuke. Was he playing some game now...? This had to be the case, because the answer to his question was way too obvious. Still, she decided to play along, at least out of politeness.

"For saving my life. I never had a chance to thank you, Uchiha-san. You disappeared before I could–"

"Don't mention it. Is that all?" It was weird, but he was either overly humble which somehow seemed unlikely to the girl, or he truly disliked her so much that wanted to get rid of her as soon as possible.

Yes, this had to be it, she decided, feeling strange sadness feeling her heart.

"Yes... well, n-not entirely. Ne... could I... ask you a question?" He kept glaring at her silently without responding, so she allowed herself to proceed, remembering the similar situation during their brief conversation in the sewers yesterday. "Sasuke-san, why are you... so indifferent?" This totally wasn't the thing she'd intended to ask, but the words left her mouth before she could shut it, which made the girl's face redden as she regretted not knowing a space-time ninjutsu which would let her disappear right away.

His right eye narrowed at her, and for a short moment Hinata was afraid that her question might truly anger him. But contrary to her expectations, the reply that came off his lips sounded very soft and quiet:

"What makes you think I am?"

She looked away, confused by his response. At first, the answer to his question had seemed obvious, but now that she thought about it...

"Ano... Well, you–you always seem to be. So, I assumed that–"

"You assumed that since Naruto knows me so well, it means that you might have any idea of what exactly I think or feel? Hn." He stepped closer to her, probably not to intimidate the girl but rather so that nobody would hear his next line as he kept his voice very low,

"Do not pry into this. You might get hurt. Naruto is my friend, but you are not. The only reason why I saved you yesterday was a mere coincidence. Besides...," he frowned, pausing for a few seconds and peering right into her worried and slightly frightened eyes before shaking his head dismissively. "Forget it. Better stay in your illusionary world, girl. The likes of you are only good in a life of happiness. You are too weak to withstand the pain of reality."

Having said this which left Hinata completely stunned, staring at him silently with very mixed feelings in her heart, he turned around, walking away from her just as slowly as they had been striding a minute ago, without any rush.

She couldn't force herself to move. In his words... it wasn't very obvious to anyone less attentive and compassionate than her, but she had heard it anyway. There was so much _pain_ , so much _grief_ , so much desperation and disappointment in everything that it hit her like a giant boulder right there in the middle of the street. And together with his previous display of emotion back in the Hokage's office, it became clear to her.  
No, after all, Uchiha Sasuke wasn't just a cold blooded killer. He was exactly what Naruto'd called him – a person who'd suffered way too much to be able to adapt to the calm and measured life in Konoha. This life was probably something completely foreign to him, who'd been wondering for so long...

Or was it? Had he never known happiness at all? Surely, at least in his childhood...!

Hinata gasped at the shocking realization, feeling so utterly foolish and so impossibly ashamed of her previous actions and thoughts concerning her love's best friend that right now, she truly wished that Uchiha hadn't saved her the previous night.

She was an idiot. A completely brain dead moron. Somehow, as careful as she was, she had managed to completely forget the fact that Sasuke's entire clan including his parents had been mutilated in front of him when he was but a child. It was only natural that he had this sort of defensive reaction to death of any of his precious people. That's why he seemed so indifferent about Sakura's demise... because it was probably his only way of locking himself away from this agony that must have always tormented him from the inside...!

Hinata covered her face with her palms, letting out a quiet frustrated groan and sobbing. She was such a tactless and senseless dummy... She needed to fix it somehow as soon as possible.

But how...?

Sasuke really disliked her, it was as obvious as was the sun on clouded the sky above her head. He probably only tolerated her because of Naruto... and even so, he didn't think any high of her, he'd made it quite clear so far. Not that it was undeserved, though...

 _You are not suited for the real one._

What did he mean by saying this to her, though? What exactly was the illusionary world he'd mentioned? Was this some reference? Or maybe something deeper than that...?

Hinata locked her lowered hands together, clenching her fingers to the point where her knuckles paled.

She definitely had to come up with a way to make it up for Uchiha Sasuke. And even aside from the fact that she felt like it was a right thing to do, Hinata knew that she also had to be at least on decent terms with him, because Naruto wouldn't like to be torn between his best friend and his girlfriend if things remained the way they were at the moment. And it would definitely be her fault, which was totally unacceptable for the girl. She needed to become the uniting link for the two of them now that Sakura was gone... not the opposite.  
And also... She didn't want to admit it, but she now also felt very tempted to find out what Sasuke'd implied by the enigmatic phrase about her not being suited for the real world.

Because if he thought that she hadn't known pain and suffering, he was very wrong.

 **-~o0o~-**

Although usually she didn't mind rainy weather, Hinata believed that it always made any funeral only worse, because this was definitely not the case in which one could be glad that the weather matched their mood so perfectly. And albeit she had attended quite a few of such events in the past, including that of her beloved brother Neji which was especially painful for her to remember, the dark haired kunoichi could never get accustomed to the atmosphere of complete desperation and disaster that filled every fiber of her being as she watched Sakura's parents bow down to the open coffin of their daughter, unable to even cry as the shock of their loss hasn't gone yet.

Naruto was standing next to Hyūga with a small branch covered with cherry blossoms in his hands. The girl had no idea where had he managed to find it nowadays, in June. Not that it really mattered, of course...

She sighed, studying the blond's face furtively. He was hardly expressive at the moment, staring blankly somewhere into the space in front of him, not paying any attention to the heavy drops of rain that were smacking against his head, flowing down his skin right into his dim blue eyes – probably because of the tears nobody including his girlfriend could see at the moment but which were definitely there nevertheless.

Yes, this was probably the only good thing about the rain right now... She realized that it was a bit egoistic on her part, but Hinata still didn't want to remember seeing him crying. In her mind, Naruto was always the one to make the tears of others go away...

"Your turn, Sasuke," muttered the blond as Sakura's parents got up and walked away, hugging each other in a desperate attempt to preserve their hearts from getting ripped apart by their unbearable common pain.

"No," the slightly abrupt response came from the teen who was standing right next to the blond to the left from him. "You go first. I was never as close with her as you were."

At first, it seemed like Naruto was going to object, but then he closed his already open mouth and nodded silently instead, slowly stepping toward the coffin.

Now that the jinchūriki wasn't standing between the two of them, Hinata was able to slightly shift her gaze, studying Uchiha's face carefully as well.

As expected, he was still absolutely impassive, of course. But his face... she couldn't quite explain it, but something was slightly, barely notably different in his expression now that he looked at Naruto's back, watching as his friend fell of his knees and lowered his head in front of their fallen teammate, crunching as he was finally breaking under the overwhelming storm of feelings.

No matter how much she wanted to comfort her beloved Naruto at this horrible moment, she did realize that right now there was nothing she could possibly do to help him. She'd lost her precious people before, so she knew for sure that nothing but time could really take the pain away. Beside that, Hyūga couldn't force herself to watch the shocking scene. Instead, in order to distract her troubled mind somehow, she tried focusing her attention on people around her, finally stopping her gaze on the black haired shinobi who was now standing just a yard away from her and, on the contrary, not moving his eye an inch away from Uzumaki, as if it was impossibly important for him to memorize every second, every single moment of this.

And then the unexpected idea came to her. Although she couldn't help Naruto in this specific situation, she could at least try to fix her own mistakes in regards to his best friend – the girl was certain that the blond would appreciate it if the two of them came to at least decent terms, especially in the upcoming weeks of mourning.  
Until now, she'd had a couple hours to think about the awful mistake she'd done by jumping to conclusions and misjudging this man, and although she now understood (or at least believed that she did) why he was the way he was, and even though she still didn't like him by any means, the girl still felt strangely curious to find out what was behind the mask of aloof indifference he always wore. Maybe she just wanted to prove her assumptions about him...?  
The kunoichi wasn't sure what exactly was driving her – the desire to make Naruto feel better, her will to fix her own mistakes or just her curiosity, but that was probably why for the second time this day, her mouth opened against her will, almost as though someone else was speaking through her voice,

"Sasuke-san..."

He didn't react. He never did, she'd already got it, but the girl still refused to be as blunt with him as he apparently preferred. Unlike the rest of their classmates, her and him had never been friends and had hardly even been comrades in the past. She couldn't be impolite.

"I–I'm sorry..." She pursed her lips, suddenly feeling stupid again. For what exactly was she sorry? He wasn't aware of her inner struggle and the thoughts she'd had about him and his past.

Fortunately, he just kept ignoring her, as if pretending that he didn't hear her quiet words. And this sudden and very helpful idea allowed the girl to turn away, looking down at the wet gravel under her feet, deciding to pretend as well that she'd never said anything to begin with.  
For a while, they stayed like that, and it was beginning to seem like the time had miraculously slowed down, because Hinata just couldn't wait to leave. To get away from the cemetery, from all this grief, pain and cold that penetrated her to the bone.

And especially from Uchiha Sasuke who was a perfect embodiment of all these things.

Hinata then realized, to her surprise, that he was probably right. She didn't want to know about whatever his 'real world' was. Perhaps it made her weak for all she cared, but it was irrelevant at the end of the day. She had finally found her happiness, hadn't she? Her father acknowledged her, Naruto loved her, and her village was safe...

 _Or was it?_

The kunoichi paled as she glanced at Naruto who was still on his knees, trembling and crying loudly enough for her to hear it.  
Hinata then bit her lip so strongly that she felt the bitter taste of her own blood right away.

Hadn't she promised herself that she'd never be a coward again? Hadn't she promised herself that she'd make her father and Naruto proud? Hadn't she promised herself to never be a burden again?  
And what was she doing now? The answer was very simple and obvious, much to her shame – exactly what Sasuke'd been referring to, the girl realized. Hiding in her shell, in _her illusionary world_ , trying to convince herself that everything was still alright, that no permanent damage had been inflicted, that they'd eventually get over it. That their lives could be the same...

Except nothing would be the same. The reality hit her for the second time this day – Naruto would most likely change, the image of the village itself had already changed in her eyes... her very world was crumbled now, demolished by this unknown dark realm she was now so tempted to enter. It would be too naive and foolish to seriously think that any of this could still be reverted. With Sakura's death, something inside Hinata had broken, she only came to realize it right now. They had never been close friends, but this was not the point anyway. Yesterday's accident forced the kunoichi to open her eyes and see the things around her that she'd always ignored, refusing to acknowledge the existence of this frightening part of the thin fabric of reality everyone had always tried to protect her from.

Everyone including Sasuke, oddly enough. He had told her a few times by now to stay away... Not to pry into anything related to him and _his world_. This new revelation was shocking and crushing, but she couldn't follow his request that, to be completely honest, had sounded more like an order. No, not anymore. Everything around her was connected, tied by the invisible thread of fate, and by happening to be the victim of the man Uchiha'd slaughtered last night, she had unwillingly crossed the point of no return.  
Because _she_ had already changed herself. Right now, she was feeling like she was on the brink of committing something very important. Something fateful. Something that might lead her to regretting it later... or perhaps would even doom her life, if not just take it like it had done to Sakura's.

But she couldn't help it, Hyūga realized it as well. She needed to learn to live with this understanding, but she didn't know how. Her only clue was what Sasuke'd said to her. Apparently he could read her like an open book, but Hinata didn't mind it at the moment. If anything, the kunoichi felt like she needed to know what he saw in said book, because she herself could hardly understand a thing about herself anymore.

And now that she'd got brief a taste of _his_ world... She knew that she'd never be able to run away from it. Just like she'd known that she'd not have been able to run away from the creeping darkness last night... Running from _his_ darkness now would be just as futile.

Perhaps she just needed to get to know it...? Or rather to get to know _him_. And then... mayhap then she'd also be able to understand the pain Sasuke shared with Naruto. This little obstacle that'd always been on her way to the heart of her beloved jinchūriki, she could now see what exactly it was. And although he loved her now, and she loved him deeply in return... She realized that they would never be able to become truly united so long as she didn't understand the true depth of his pain, his heart and his soul. Naruto had never talked to her about these things... the dark things that had happened to him. Just like everyone else, he'd kept her safe from some parts of his past. From the darkness that, for instance, took his hand away. And many other things, too...

She flinched as she saw the blond getting up from the wet soil, bowing down for the last time to readjust the branch with bright pink flowers he had brought.

 _I'm doing this for you, my love... for your and only your sake. I must. There is no other way... I swear, I shall stop being a burden once and for all. You will never have to cry like this because of me!_

"Sasuke-san," said Hinata again, and despite it probably sounding even more quiet than her previous attempt to talk to him, something made her dead sure that he could hear her now. "You were wrong. I wish to stop being delusional. I want to learn about the real world first hand."

The kunoichi turned her head slightly to the left, letting out a slightly frustrated sigh as she didn't see any reaction to her words.

However, when Naruto straightened his back, preparing to return to them, she heard the quiet response that sounded more like a thunder to her ears. The final sentence coming from the power beyond her comprehension, no less.

"Come to the place where it happened. Midnight. Alone."

He stepped forward, and only then did she finally notice that Sasuke had no flowers in his hand. Instead, his fingers tightly gripped an old picture that had apparently been roughly torn apart in the past, only to be carefully glued back later on.

The first and only picture of Team Seven all together.

* * *

 **Life is more a matter of choosing than knowing. You can never know the eventual destination of your path, but you could always choose in which direction to take each step. Except sometimes, the choice is already made before you realize.**

 **See you in the next chapter: The Shadow Side!**


	4. The Shadow Side

**Chapter 3. The Shadow Side**

"Are you sure you haven't forgotten anything?" Hinata eyed the jinchūriki up and down carefully, wiping some nonexistent dust off his black shirt.

"Nah, got it all in my backpack. Don't worry, I'd never in hell forget to take the stuff you cooked for me!" He gave her a weak smile as the girl's cheeks reddened.

"O-oh... I see... It's good, then–" He interrupted her with a soft kiss on the lips, hugging the kunoichi tightly and then sighing as she returned the gesture, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"Please... come back soon," she whispered, feeling the lonely tear flowing down her cheek.

After everything that had happened throughout the last twenty four hours, it was really hard for her to let him go for this mission, but on the other hand, Hyūga realized that it was only for the best at the moment. She had yet to attend the late meeting with Sasuke, and it would be very hard find an excuse to leave the estate at night time without either Naruto or her father finding out about it. And this way, she would have only one person to take care of, which was certainly making things significantly easier.

"Of course. I'll be back in no time, I promise! Don't you worry, okay?" He backed off slightly, meeting her troubled gaze and giving his girlfriend a reassuring smile, "We'll make through this, you'll see, Hinata-chan. I love you."

Unable to hold back a happy smile despite all of the mixed feelings and conflicting emotions she was overwhelmed with, the girl nodded quickly.

"S-sure. I love you, too, Naruto-kun."

He kissed her again as her hands wrapped around his neck, and for some time, the kunoichi completely forgot about everything and everyone else, feeling slightly delirious at the sweet taste of his lips. However, just as soon as he let her go, she frowned, looking away as he turned around and grabbed his gray cloak from the hanger, draping it slovenly over his broad shoulders before picking his backpack from the nearest stool and then looking at the girl perplexedly.

"Eh... Hinata-chan?"

She flinched, snapping her head at him and staring at the blond in confusion while he gave her a long curious stare.

"Um... yes?"

He smirked jovially, cocking his head slightly.

"Well... it's _my_ house, ya know. Normally, I wouldn't mind it at all if you wanted to stay, but, well, I have only one set of keys, so if you wanna–" Her face reddened terribly as she raised her hands in front of her in the awkward protest, interrupting the blond.

"S-Sorry! I–I just spaced out for a second... I'm sorry," she repeated more quietly, lowering her eyes shamefully for a few seconds before muttering, "Let's go, shall we?"

She then put her light pink jacket on, and perhaps for the first time in her life, the kunoichi forgot to zip it as she followed her boyfriend outdoors, still sunken deep in her thought. And although Naruto had definitely noticed this small detail, he decided not to question it. Perhaps the jinchūriki simply liked the fact that she was finally opening up, step by step, becoming more liberated – something Hinata'd always struggled with. And this was one of the first movements in the direction that was certainly good for her in his opinion.

"Eh, Hinata-chan...," he muttered softly as they walked across the broad street towards the main gates of the village, enjoying the calming warmth of the soft rays of the evening sun.  
Naruto's tone was unusually quiet and serious which instantly drew the girl's attention, making her look at him in a silent question as he continued after a short pause, "I, uh... I wanted to ask you to do me a small favor, but I kinda don't know how would you feel about it, so..."

She frowned. It was really uncommon for Naruto to be so obviously insecure, so she instantly realized that whatever he was up to had to be really important... and probably quite delicate, too.

"Of course. I'd be glad to help you! What is it?"

He sighed, looking away thoughtfully with a very concerned expression.

"You know, with everything that happened yesterday, I feel really bad for Sasuke."

The girl almost flinched at the mention of Uchiha's name, pursing her lips and looking away as well. She wasn't ready to tell Naruto about her thoughts regarding his best friend just yet. Sometime later, she certainly would, of course... But not right now. She totally didn't want to bother him with her personal issues, because the blond already had more than ample things to take care of at the moment.  
Besides, she truly intended to start solving her own problems by herself.

"Y-Yes... I–I guess all of this is really hard for him, isn't it?"

Naruto chuckled quietly, although there was no merry note in his voice.

"Meh. You probably have no idea. Though, well... I don't think even I understand what's going on in his heart right now. But, eh, that's not the point anyway." He paused again, and for some time it seemed like he decided to simply drop the subject. However, just as she was about to ask him to continue, he opened his mouth again, musing even more quietly than before:

"You know, Hinata-chan... I'm not blind. I know that you don't exactly like the bastard, and although it's kinda sad to me, I can't force you to like him. I know, right. But... he doesn't have anyone in the village. With Sakura-chan... gone," the young shinobi swallowed, looking down at the ground under his feet, "I'm his only close person remaining here, and, well... I gotta leave him now, too, even though it's only for a couple days...," he winced, turning to her. "Look, I'm just afraid he might leave Konoha again or do some other stupid shit," finally mumbled Naruto, nervously putting his hands into the pockets of his orange pants. "It probably won't be necessary, but I if you happen to stumble upon him, and if he needs something–"

"Of course!" She must have replied unusually quickly, and it probably had sounded a little bit too enthusiastic, because Naruto gave her a slightly surprised stare as she interrupted him, blushing the next second. "I–I will help him with everything he might require, but... truth to be told, I don't think he would like to have me assisting him. S-Sasuke-san is not very fond of me, it seems," she said automatically before thinking, cursing herself the next moment as Uzumaki frowned grimly.

"Huh? What makes you think so?"

Hyūga bit her lip, lowering her eyes.

"Uh... well, we've had a short talk... after the interrogation back in the morning, that is. And, well... Sasuke-san, h-he... made it clear that he doesn't want to have me around." Hoping that it sounded neutral enough and not wanting to elaborate on the details of their morning conversation, the kunoichi gave her boyfriend an attentive glance as he licked his lips, hemming as he gazed forward once again.

"Well... To be honest, that's typical Sasuke-teme for ya. Please, don't take it any seriously, Hinata-chan. He's just very upset, and, uh... He's not exactly known for being a gentleman, ya know." He winced at some memories of the past, and she was unable to hold back a quiet giggle at his childish expression.

"Hm-m... I guess you are right," she smiled genuinely, moving her gaze to the outpost near the gates. Kotetsu and Izumo, having noticed Naruto and herself, went out of the small building, bowing their heads in respect as they approached the pair.

"Hey, Naruto! Hyūga-san. We've heard about what happened yesterday, and, well–"

"We just wanted to say... our condolences."

"Yeah, this is just horrible. Whoever is responsible, I'm sure they'll be dealt with very soon."

Both the men closed their mouths, looking expectantly at the blond who stopped, frowning and eyeing the ground under his feet before kicking a small piece of rock lazily as though he'd wanted to let out some steam yet didn't even have the energy to feel angry anymore.

"Thanks, guys," he muttered in a few seconds, feeling the reassuring grasp of Hinata's soft fingers on his palm the same moment. "I'm going to a mission now. Please, take care, and make sure that not a single rat sneaks into the village while I'm away, alright?" He gave the two ninjas such a serious look that for some time, they became completely speechless before Izumo finally mumbled:

"Uh... Of course. No problem, man. Take care yourself. We need our future Hokage back in one piece!" He winked.

Uzumaki rolled his eyes, waving his hand off at them dismissively.

"Yeah, as if I have anything to be afraid of out there. Later, guys."

"See you, Naruto!" they replied simultaneously, and Kotetsu smiled at Hinata, adding, "We'll protect your princess here meanwhile, so don't worry about a thing!"

The jinchūriki hugged his girlfriend one last time, pecking her cheek before stepping back and turning around. He then smirked at the two guardians and said before striding forward quickly:

"She is already under someone's protection. No offense, guys, but your help totally won't be needed."

Hinata frowned at his back. What was the meaning of this...? Apparently, unlike her, the older ninjas got what he was implying, smirking at each other and nodding slowly in understanding.

"Oh, right. I forgot he was back," drawled Izumo impassively, watching as Naruto walked away from the gates.

"Yep. I guess we really got nothing to worry about, then. Boring," drawled his friend, making Hinata's eyes widen at the surprising realization.

The one who was back. Uchiha! They were talking about Sasuke! But then... Did it mean that Naruto had actually asked his friend to look after her while he would be away...?

Now that she thought about it, this was something her boyfriend most probably would have done. And as embarrassing it was to know that she was given special treatment like this, it was kind of relieving as well. Because if this was the case, then... In a way, she now had the legitimate reason to meet Sasuke whenever she would want, and it wouldn't be necessary to tell Naruto about it later on. And since she was apparently wanted by some criminals within the village, and Sasuke was going to protect her anyway...  
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly at the idea. She was bound to get in trouble if she went out of her home at night, which she totally _was_ going to do very soon.

She blushed, slightly amazed by her own sudden cunning. Of course, she was innocent enough not to even consider the possible idea Naruto might get if he would later find out that she'd met Uchiha at night in secret; her reasons to hide this from her beloved jinchūriki had nothing to do with anything indecent anyway. However, even though her intentions were pure and noble, she still felt bad for having to hide something from Uzumaki. It just didn't felt right... but she knew that it was the only way. She simply had no other choice.

That's why Hinata, reassured by her own resolve and the will to become better for _his_ sake, quickly said goodbyes to the guardians and turned around, rushing towards the stores in the middle of the village. She needed to prepare for the adventure she was having at hand, because she didn't want Uchiha to think of her even more lowly than he already did.

 **-~o0o~-**

"Big sister! What's up? How was your day?"

As always, Hanabi burst into her room without knocking which nearly made Hinata faint as she tried to hide the big black cape she was holding in her hands, quickly throwing the heavy cloth on her bed as her face blanched while she turned around.

"Hanabi! W-What are you doing here so late?" she babbled in a trembling voice, sitting down on the black fabric and putting her knees together nervously.

Luckily, the brown haired girl didn't seem to had noticed anything suspicious, looking at her sister anxiously with great compassion in the white eyes that looked identical to her own.

"Well, I just wanted to know how are you feeling. I haven't seen you since morning."

Hinata sighed deeply, looking away and putting her hands on the blanket, suppressing the nervous tremor.

"I–I'm fine, thank you. What about you?" She squeezed out a weak smile, but apparently Hanabi didn't buy it; instead, the girl sighed, shaking her head and coming close to the older kunoichi, hugging her tightly.

"I just wanted to remind you that I'm always there for you if you want to talk about what happened. And also... I wanted to tell you something important." Hanabi backed off, looking into her eyes vigorously and sort of defensively, to her confusion.

"Sure... What is it?" Hinata frowned. It was very unusual for sister to be so serious these days, so it was clearly something _incredibly_ important.

Hanabi cleared her throat, straightening her back.

"As you well know, I'm the best kunoichi among my peers. I suppose that's why... Ugh, long story short, father told me today that he'd got a request from Hokage-sama. They want me to join ANBU next month."

Hinata gasped, putting her palm on her chest. Hanabi was only thirteen, and in her opinion, that was way too young for becoming a part of something as serious and dangerous as ANBU. However, she was aware that there had been cases of even more young ninjas joining the secret unit, and her sister, despite her age, was indeed far superior to most of her peers. Hanabi was a prodigy of their clan, so nobody could deny her the right to become a part of the elite group.  
And yet...

"Are you sure that–"

"Yes, I am sure!" The girl nodded quickly, pursing her lips. "After what happened yesterday, I can't just sit still and pretend that everything is alright here in Konoha! I want to help the village and our clan with everything I can. Naturally, ANBU is the best way to do it. Don't try to talk me out of it, big sister. It's already decided."

The older daughter of Hiashi smiled sadly, shaking her head. She knew that once Hanabi had made a decision, only their father could possibly talk her out of it. And this time, he was clearly supporting the idea.  
Therefore...

"I understand. I... do share your concerns about the village, Hanabi. More than you probably realize," she added in a whisper, making the brown haired kunoichi's eyes widen in surprise.

"You... you do?"

She nodded.

"Yes. And right now, I'm thinking about the possible ways I can help the village myself." Hinata glanced at her watch and bit her lip. She was about to be late for the meeting, and she was dead sure that Sasuke was not the person who would tolerate it, especially from someone he disliked.

"Woah... that's... unexpected, I must say. But why don't you join ANBU as well, then? I'm sure you could easily apply for it."

Hinata flinched, focusing her gaze on Hanabi's face and then chuckling ironically.

"I–I don't think I am suited for a job like this one... I'm not a very good kunoichi, Hanabi. I'm too clumsy."

Her sister rolled her eyes, snorting.

"Bullcrap. You are the strongest in our clan, sis. You just don't want to admit it for some reason I'll never be able to understand. But, anyway, it's none of my business. I'm glad that you have accepted my decision. Good night!"

"Good night, Hanabi," the older girl smiled gently, watching as her sibling left the room after sliding the door pretty loudly.

Her expression changed the same second as Hinata got up from the bed and swiftly put the cape on, making sure that the hood covered her face good enough. She then switched off the lights in the room before jumping out of the window, landing just behind the stone wall that surrounded the estate.

"Right...," she whispered, activating her dōjutsu and checking everything around, specifically inside her house.

Nobody seemed to had noticed her escape, which meant that she had roughly two hours until the night watch would scan the entire estate with Byakugan – a routine ritual to spot possible intruders and check the place for other things that might cause trouble to the clan.

Rushing towards Yamanaka's quarters, Hinata managed to reach the flower shop in no time. Fortunately, it was still two minutes to midnight, so she wasn't quite late yet.  
Focusing her attention on her watch and trying not to look around as the girl was afraid of the memories of the previous night, she walked slowly in between small building, getting close to the entrance to the sewers where she'd almost died yesterday.

The hatch was still open, and there were absolutely no signs of ongoing investigation around – apparently, those who had checked this place earlier were already done here, so there was nothing she could possibly ruin with her presence, thankfully. Except her own life, of course – this ironical thought made the kunoichi smirk quietly, shaking her head at her own recklessness. She still couldn't believe that she was actually doing it, and, on top of everything, she was doing it _willingly_...

Peering into the hole in the ground, Hyūga frowned, wondering for a moment if Sasuke had implied that they were supposed to meet down there, or rather just somewhere around the place. But it was already midnight, and he was nowhere around, so the answer was pretty much obvious – she most likely had to go there just in case anyway.  
On the other hand, with her Byakugan activated, she could also see that there was nobody down in the sewers either...  
Wincing at the disgusting smell she probably hadn't felt before due to feeling extremely nervous and stressed, she jumped down, landing on the familiar floor and looking around.  
All the traces of yesterday's events were already completely gone, which was probably a good thing. It was uncomfortable to be here as it was, for the place was quite unpleasant and repulsing.

Letting out a quiet sigh, Hinata narrowed her eyes, trying to see where the tunnel led to. The nearest end was just outside the grand wall that surrounded the village. The other one, however, was leading to the huge net of sewers and underground passages that formed an entire labyrinth with many, many levels above and below her current location – she wasn't sure how deep it was possible to go from here, and it was quite an amazing view, because for some reason, it wasn't visible to her eyes from the streets above. Frankly, she'd never imagined that something like this even existed...

Just how much did she not know about Konohagakure...?

"Impressive, isn't it?" the kunoichi flinched at the familiar shrill voice, snapping her head and quickly turning around.

The impassive stare of his black eye made her heart fill with both relief and caution, and although she didn't feel like she was in danger right now, Hinata still couldn't be relaxed next to this man. Because even though it wasn't directed at her, he _was_ the danger himself.

"W-What do you mean?"

He rolled his only visible eye in annoyance, nodding at something undefined behind his back.

"Everything you can see around and below this place with your eye prowess. You haven't seen any of it before, have you? Your face says it all."

She shook her head slowly, swallowing heavily and frowning.

"Is this... something secret?"

He shrugged indefinitely, apparently still carefully studying her conflicted expression.

"Some of it. All of this is a part of the village. There are secret places everywhere, you never know until you find out yourself."

The girl nodded, looking away as she was unable to withstand his piercing gaze any longer.

"So... what are we going to do?"

She didn't see it, but she _felt_ as the Uchiha eyed her up and down before replying,

"You tell me. You wanted something from me, not the other way around."

He had a point. Hinata hadn't made anything clear back when she'd told him that she wanted to learn about his world... Somehow, until now, the kunoichi'd subconsciously assumed that he, just like everyone else had always done before, would willingly grab her hand and lead her to whatever she'd shown the desire to know. And now it became obvious that he wasn't going to do anything like that – unlike her, he had made things clear by telling her that it was her who needed something from him, apparently implying that she would have to put some effort into getting it.

But what was the young Hyūga going to say now? He seemed to be waiting for some gesture on her part, probably for a question. And she knew that he wasn't the most patient person to say the least, so she needed to come up with some idea very quickly...

"I–I've come to realize that something is wrong here... in Konohagakure," she met his gaze, but he still showed no sign of emotion or interest, so she decided to continue, "Until yesterday, I'd had no idea that the criminal level in the village is so... high. Never before could I have imagined that... what happened here last night was even _possible_ ," she whispered, frowning even more at his calm and careless expression. Was he even listening to her? "I–I figured that this is what you have been dealing with since the day you returned. Is that correct, Sasuke-san?" she finally durst to ask a question, just to make sure that he didn't space out.

"Yeah," came the short reply without anything else following it.

She licked her dry lips, opening her mouth but staying quiet for a few seconds, trying to pick the right words.

"Then... For starters, I would appreciate it if–if you showed me how things really are. I–I believe that a lot of things are hidden from most people in the village. So... can I... help your mission s-somehow, maybe?"

It was barely notable, but he frowned slightly at her request, remaining silent for some time as though thinking about pros and cons of such possibility.

"I guess you could be useful. But, like I told you before, I don't think it's a good idea for you to pry into this."

She clenched her fists, narrowing her eyes as she felt the sudden wave of anger.  
Was this because he wanted to protect her? No, he definitely couldn't care less about her, but now that she knew that Naruto had asked him to do it...  
But she'd had enough of this already. She wasn't some porcelain doll to be treasured by her close people so much. And she had some pride, too.

"With all due respect, Sasuke-san... I would also appreciate it if you let me to make such decisions by myself."

He blinked in surprise before his lips curved into a small skeptic grin.

"Hn. Suit yourself. Your life is none of my business anyway. However, there will be a condition."

She blinked as well.

"Condition...?"

"Yeah. Some of the things you are going to see, I don't want anyone to know about them. Not your friends, not your clansmen, not even the Hokage. And _especially_ not Naruto."

Hinata pursed her lips. Sure, it was only natural for him to not simply agree to help her, but she still felt curious as well as cautious.

"But why?"

For some reason, his expression that now just radiated irony and mockery made the girl suddenly feel very stupid – it was as if the question was ridiculously dumb from his point of view.

"It will answer when we are done here tonight. If you disagree, though, I will simply wipe your memories on the matter." His Sharingan activated the moment he said it, filling the girl's heart with crimson dread.

She stepped back reflectively, raising her hands in defense.

"N-No! Please, don't!"

Hyūga simply couldn't allow it to happen no matter what. This revelation... she knew that she was on the brink of something incredibly important. And no matter what, she couldn't afford losing this opportunity now. It would be a crime, no less... A crime against herself, her feelings and her beliefs. No matter how tempting the idea of losing memories suddenly was to some part of her troubled mind, it was still unacceptable!

"So?"

The dark haired girl swallowed, lowering her hands and her head in defeat.

"I agree. I will not tell anyone. Just... P-Please, let me know the truth. All of it!"

He hemmed thoughtfully, suddenly turning around and starting walking away unhurriedly, which made the girl flinch and follow him hesitantly as he mused:

"Truth is merely a vague concept people use to cling to the reality they have in their heads. Have you ever considered the possibility of your reality being but a mirage?"

Hinata bit her lip, staring at his wild black hair as he was striding deeper into the tunnel.

"Yes... I–I guess that's what I am thinking now," she said in a few seconds, realizing what he was referring to.

"Just like everyone else, you live your life bound by what you accept as correct and true. That's how we all define 'reality'. But what exactly does it mean to be 'correct' or 'true'?" he asked, and seeing as he paused, it was obvious to the girl that the question wasn't just rhetorical, but rather directed at her.

It took her some time to think over her answer, and only when they crossed another tunnel and started walking down the slippery steps, she muttered:

"It is all about what we believe, is it not?"

"Yes," came the immediate answer, "We all live in our own worlds that are shaped by our beliefs. Which is why you cannot blame people for having a point of view that is different from your own. However, it doesn't mean that you have to agree with their pictures of the world."

That was quite reasonable, but although Uchiha paused again, his sentence was clearly not quite over – he expected her to tell or ask something, again. Apparently, he was driving her to a certain conclusion...

"Is this why you don't want Naruto-kun and others to know about yours?"

He stopped, and she almost bumped into him as he turned around, giving her a slightly disdainful look.

"Naruto and Kakashi are well aware of my views and beliefs."

Hinata nodded slowly then, not even feeling intimidated by his gaze, because for once, she finally understood him.

"And they disagree with you. Just like you... disagree with them. Thus, you live in different realities..."

His features softened ever so slightly as he nodded.

"Yeah. And so do you." The shinobi turned around again, continuing walking as the girl followed him quickly.

"I think I understand it now..."

He hemmed again, but this time it sounded neutral again.

"Do you?"

"Yes," she nodded to herself, "It is all about what a person believes."

"And what do you think beliefs are based on?"

The answer was apparent, so she didn't hesitate before replying,

"Knowledge?"

"Not only that...," she frowned, biting her lip thoughtfully, but this time, he spared her from thinking any further, "It is always your perception that defines your reality. A single fact can be viewed differently by various people."

Everything he was telling her seemed to be obvious and simple at the first approach. But why was she feeling so... enlightened, then? It was as if he was making her realize some things she'd never bothered to think about, the things she'd always overlooked, never thinking that it could possibly be something important. The kunoichi wondered how many other simple things like that she'd neither noticed nor realized before...

"Then... I may consider someone evil, and Naruto-kun may consider this person good. And we... does it mean that we may both be wrong and right at the same time?" she mused before snapping her head at the short chortle, realizing belatedly that she'd said it aloud and blushing shamefully – clearly, Sasuke had realized about whom she was talking.

"Good and evil are always subjective. For instance, possessing knowledge of the fact of a murder, you may view someone as a cold blooded killer, ergo evil. But without knowing this person's reasoning, how can you honestly tell if they are good or evil? What if he or she was preventing an even greater catastrophe by committing this crime? People are always quick to label others without thinking, and it often causes disastrous consequences."

She nodded slowly, quickly forgetting about her embarrassment at the deep words.

"So... what you mean is that there are no absolutes. Is that correct, Sasuke-san?"

"Yeah."

Hinata frowned.

"Then... does it also mean that only I can decide what is good and what is bad?"

"Yeah."

"And to do so, I need knowledge," she mumbled to herself, pursing her lips thoughtfully.

He glanced at her over his shoulder.

"I guess you are not as dumb as you seem to be," he concluded, making the girl stare at him in silent indignation.

Of course, she had met and dealt with impolite and blunt people before, but seldom had anyone of them been so mean while talking to her. Did she really deserve it?

"I–I don't think you know much about me, Sasuke-san," she replied calmly, to which he simply shrugged.

"Whatever you say. I was never interested in you to begin with, and I'm still not."

Hyūga frowned, looking away. Although she'd presumed it anyway, the girl still felt slightly hurt by his words, though she had no idea why.

"But why did you agree to help me...?"

"I have my reasons," he snapped, clearly not wanting to elaborate, and the slight change in his tone told her intuition to prevent the girl from pushing any further on this matter.

Instead, she raised her eyes, peering through the soil at the space above them.

"Uh... could you please tell me where are we going, Sasuke-san?"

"We are almost there. Let's make haste," he rushed forward, jumping up and landing on an upper level of the dungeon.

Absorbed by their conversation, she hadn't noticed how they came out of sewers, walking through some seemingly abandoned old underground facility. Still, Hinata didn't have any time to look around, seeing as Sasuke kept jumping up from one floor to another, finally reaching the heavy door that, as she could see with her Byakugan, led to the big hall with completely mismatching interior.

The girl paled, then. It looked very, very rich and luxurious. If anything, the place appeared like some royal quarters rather what it really was – a hidden lair of some criminals, judging by the way people there were dressed as they were sitting all across the hall, enjoying their drinks and half naked women that were surrounding them, and playing card games.

"Is this it...?" she gasped, coming close to Sasuke who leaned against the closed door, studying Hinata's shocked expression without any real interest.

"What, exactly? Do you think it's the core of all evil in Konoha? Hn." He turned away, taking his sword out. "It's just a den of some criminal scum, nothing more. One of many you can reach via underground passages. Although... I'm pretty sure that there is the guy you might be interested in."

"You mean... The one who hired that ninja...?"

"Yeah. The man who is after your eyes."

The kunoichi swallowed nervously, frowning the next second.

"B-But... why does this place still exist? D-Does the Hokage not know about its location...? Or..."

His eyebrow cocked sarcastically.

"I never thought that a Byakugan user can be _this_ blind. Look around. The buildings above, specifically."

She did as he told her, and then Hinata felt as her heart skipped a beat at the horrifying realization.

No, it was impossible for the highest echelons of Konoha not to know about this place and these people's dealings. Because they were currently just a hundred yards away from the Hokage's office!  
But why? How could this even be possible...? How could the Hokage allow this to exist?

"So... What are we going to do now?" she asked quietly, not recognizing her own high and trembling voice and feeling completely lost and betrayed.

He shrugged indifferently.

"Suit yourself. Originally, I was going to track the guy down and kill him. Kakashi gave me the permission, because according to him, by targeting a member of a ninja clan, this person went beyond the agreements criminals have with the daimyō of this country. Still, this is not something I really want to do."

Hinata stared at his impassive face, finding it a bit hard to believe that Sasuke, of all people, didn't want to avenge his teammate.

"But... What do you want then, Sasuke-san?"

He eyed her up and down as his fingers played on the hilt of his sword absently.

"What really matters right now is what you want, with these people in the very heart of your village. As you can see, they feel completely safe and free to do whatever they want. What else do you see inside? Take your time and study it thoroughly, I'm sure you'll find a few surprises."

The kunoichi nodded, focusing her gaze on the people inside the hall. A few seconds later, her eyes widened as she gasped once again, clenching her fists.

"These–these girls...! They are... I know some of them! B-But... They are _underage_!"

He nodded slowly, more to himself than to his unwanted associate.

"Indeed. What else?"

Hyūga gritted her teeth, finding it incredibly hard to hold herself from breaking in there right away.

"They are–they are...! These men–they give the girls something... Some powder... And... drinks, too–"

"Typical. What else?"

Hinata paled to the point of resembling snow in the winter, suddenly unable to see a thing as darkness clouded her eyes when she noticed a thirteen years old girl unzip one of the criminal's pants.

"S-Sasuke-san... I–They are...!"

He activated his Sharingan again, looking at the furious kunoichi indifferently.

"How do you like it? The taste of reality. The shadow side of Konohagakure, the village you all love and treasure so much."

She could feel her nails piercing the skin of her palms as she clenched her fists in powerless anger, her body beginning to shake, and this time not out of fear.

"Why is this allowed to exist?" she asked in a surprisingly calm and smooth voice.

"According to the daimyō and the leaders of Konoha, it's the only way to maintain peace and to prevent chaos in the country. Allowing these pests to feed on other people's blood, and having endless compromises with them."

"Does Naruto-kun know about it...?"

Uchiha simply shrugged..

"He will find out when he becomes the Hokage. It won't change anything anyway. That's why I want him to stay oblivious in his bright and heroic world. For a time, he's a good iconic figure to give people hope. With him in power, this corrupted system will be able to maintain its existence for some times. Maybe even decades. Nothing will change, though. Children will keep dying out there for the sake of protecting _this._ Even if we execute all of these people right now, everything will remain the same. Criminals of lower ranks will just replace these ones, and the everlasting cycle will repeat again and again."

"But we could–!"

" _We_?" The red eye narrowed at her. "There is no 'we', girl. I'm on my own. Right now, I'm merely doing you a favor by showing you the truth. And I have warned you not to venture into this reality. I'm not your babysitter."

She sighed, feeling completely demolished. Everything she had known, everything she had believed in felt defiled now. Her village, her very home was desecrated now, leaving only disgust in her heart. It always had been, but now she would never be able to stay oblivious.

"I'm going to join ANBU," she said quietly a few moments later. "The way you put it, it seems to be impossible to change anything... But I must try. I won't manage to keep living the way I did until now. This is... too much," the girl shook her head, sliding down the wall and hugging herself.

"ANBU...?" Sasuke frowned, suddenly looking slightly concerned as if he remembered something bothersome at the mention of the organization. But then he snorted, looking at her deprecatingly. "And what are you going to achieve by siding with ANBU? You can't even do anything on your own,you idiot. The one who killed your friends is right behind this door. And you are sitting here, pitying your pathetic existence and the illusions that got shattered forever today. You are weak, Hyūga," he said, and to the girl's own surprise, she shot an angry glare at his face in return. "Someone like you is only good for being a housewife. Be real, girl. What ANBU member would you make? Are you so willing to die like Sakura did, or even worse?"

"Let me in," she whispered, slowly getting up from the floor without looking at him.

"No."

"Let me in!" she repeated louder, now staring at the Uchiha stubbornly, to which he didn't react.

"Even if I agreed, what are you going to do there?"

"I will kill this man."

"Which one?" His simple question suddenly made her realize that she actually had no idea who of those behind the heavy door was the dōjutsu collector.

"All... all off them," said the kunoichi without looking away from his Sharingan eye.

Sasuke smirked, satisfied by her reply.

"No. _I_ will purge them. Yours is the one with the big golden necklace and two rings on his thumbs."

To her twisted pleasure, the young woman realized that the person Sasuke was referring to was the one who was currently being pleased by the underage girl she'd noticed before.

"Alright," she finally muttered. "How do we get in?"

Instead of replying, Uchiha stepped to her and grabbed her wrist just like he had the previous night, and before the girl could blink, they moved inside the hall, with Hinata standing alone right in front of the atrocity she intended to kill.

The criminal's eyes widened in shock as he pushed the naked petite teen away, reaching out for his katana, but of course, he was no match for a kunoichi – it was a matter of a split second, and his sword was already in her hands, with the tip of its blade pointed at his neck.

"You... You wanted my eyes, did you not? Well... here they are. Why don't you come and get them?" she said quietly, not really hearing her own voice as the cold fury overwhelmed her soul.

"W-Wait...! Please! It's just a misunderstanding, I swear! Hyūga-sama...!"

"Die," she whispered, slicing his throat with a single motion of her hand.

Multiple terrified screams filled the hall as Hinata watched the man fall on the carpet in front of her, gripping his neck desperately and trying to stop the rapidly streaming dark blood, but she didn't care. The kunoichi knew that Uchiha would take care of the rest.

Right now, she could see only darkness before her.

* * *

 **Sometimes, the truth itself is not as important as keeping the ones you love safe from it. Sometimes, people are forced to choose between honesty and peace. Sometimes, they have to live in two different worlds simultaneously in order to save everything from falling apart.**

 **See you in the next chapter: Her Mask!**


	5. Her Mask

**Chapter 4. Her Mask**

They were sitting on the dirty floor of some abandoned and locked bakery, panting and trying to recover from the long run through the dark underground passages. After Hinata had slaughtered the leader of the criminals down there, things definitely turned nasty for the two of them, and the girl wasn't sure what to think about everything anymore.  
Of course, the necessity of their escape had nothing to do with a lack of power on their part. If they really wanted to end all of those goons... even though Hinata hadn't witnessed much of it in the past, she knew for a fact that Sasuke was strong enough to wipe the floor with all of those people as well as the ANBU ninjas who apparently rushed to the underground facility as soon as they'd noticed that something was going on down there.

Whether the ninjas'd been notified by someone inside the hall or there had been some kind of an alarm mechanism, neither Uchiha nor Hyūga could tell by now for sure, and not that it really mattered. However, as soon as Sasuke felt the elite ninjas approaching, he'd grabbed Hinata roughly by her hair the same moment, preventing her from going on a righteous killing spree, and then had moved them back into the sewers with his mysterious space-time ninjutsu before commanding her to run as fast as she could the next moment, which she'd obeyed without questions seeing how serious he'd looked.  
Of course, a bloodbath'd never been her and the last Uchiha's goal to begin with. Frankly, Hinata couldn't even tell what exactly was her own goal, because she certainly hadn't planned to kill that man off – it just'd come to her instinctively as the cold rage'd consumed her mind when she'd witnessed the atrocities those men'd committed.

"Why did we leave...?" half-whispered Hinata, shifting her head slightly to the side but still unable to see the young man who was leaning against her back, breathing heavily and, apparently, thinking about what happened to them. "From what I could see, the ninjas that were coming at as were ANBU, so... Was there a reason to run...?"

"Yeah. That's exactly why we escaped," came the laconic response which made the girl frown.

ANBU were supposed to be their allies, their protectors and their hope. Then why had Sasuke decided to run away from them...? It didn't make any sense.

"I don't understand..."

"Then you are an idiot, after all," he sighed impatiently, sounding slightly irritated. "ANBU. The council of the village. The Hokage. They are the ones who keep this system running. They are the ones who help those bastards maintain their business from the shadows in exchange for them partly funding Konoha. You don't seriously believe that they are unaware of _that_ place existing right under their noses, do you?" She could feel the strands of his hair tickling her neck slightly as he shifted his head as well while she sighed, struggling to accept the truth first but then forcing herself to do it anyway as she really didn't want to cling to illusions anymore.

"I–I suppose you are right..."

"Then what do you think they would have done to us if they found out what we've discovered?"

The cold and harsh words felt like a sharp blade cutting through her flesh and slicing her heart mercilessly, but the girl didn't whimper, suppressing the crushing desire to sob at the realization of how wrong she'd been about Konoha all along, after all.

Her home was hopelessly gone now. In truth, it had only ever existed in her mind, which became obvious as the place she'd always imagined to be the bastion of hope, light and kindness turned to be merely an illusion that'd never had anything to do with reality. The village was just a thin shell that covered something very ugly...  
And now Hyūga also knew for sure that she would never be able to return to the normal life she'd grown so accustomed to ever since her childhood, but, surprisingly enough, it didn't bother her as much as it probably should have.

The real question was what to do now...

To leave the village...? As tempting as the initial impulse was, the kunoichi knew that she really had nowhere else to go to, and besides, she still had people she loved here in Konoha, and those who loved her, too.  
The girl winced in searing pain at the image of the jinchūriki's cheerful face which appeared in front of her as she closed her eyes for a moment.  
No, she couldn't possibly abandon them, leaving her beloved ones ignorant to the monstrosity their treasured village actually was. She needed to come up with a different solution... Something that would allow her to keep caring about her precious people and fight this darkness at the same time. But was there really a way to maintain it...?

"Sasuke-san... Why do you not want for everyone to find out? Wouldn't it be easier if Naruto-kun and the others helped us...?"

Hinata almost gasped as she suddenly felt the loss of the feeling of his back against hers, with the teen appearing to be standing right in front of her the next moment as the girl nearly fell back reflectively, leaning her hands against the dirty wooden floor and staring at his impassive face in mute caution.

"Like I said, there is no _us._ Whatever I'm up to is my personal burden to bear, and I want you to stay away from me and my business from now on."

The girl frowned, gritting her teeth at his stubborn reply.

"B-But why...? Wouldn't it be easier if we all cooperated and fought this... together?"

Sasuke's crimson eye narrowed at her, and for a moment Hinata thought that he was about to actually fulfill his earlier threat and erase her memories once and for all.  
But instead, the ninja sat on the big wooden box as his features relaxed slowly while he replied in his usual calm manner:

"You don't understand, Hyūga. I don't intend to _fight_ this at all."

Hinata stared at him perplexedly, feeling completely confused by his response.

"Ano... I'm sorry...? But what is your intention then, Sasuke-san?"

He eyed her up and down impassively, remaining silent for what seemed like a good minute at the very least, but Hinata was a patient person. She knew that she was in no position to push anything right now, so she just waited for him to make up his mind.

"Even if everyone in the village finds out the truth... what would it change?"

She bit her lip, thinking carefully on her own answer to the seemingly simple question.

"W-Well... Everyone would be able to defy them, and all together, we–"

"Wrong," he snapped, making the kunoichi close her mouth and look at him expectantly. "Even if we assume that we have managed to convince everyone about how things in Konoha really are, the result would most likely be just a coup which would ultimately lead to the village's collapse in no time. The situation here nowadays is shaky enough as it is. At this rate, revealing this information would mean the end of the Leaf."

Now that she thought about it, he was reasonable enough. But then again, it didn't really explain why someone of Sasuke's power refused to try to change things for the better if he truly cared about the village. Surely, even by himself, he was capable of doing a lot of good...

"I know what you are probably thinking right now. Why do I not solve it on my own, then?" A small ironical grin appeared on his face as the white eyes widened at his words, and then he shook his head, sighing. "You are so utterly predictable that I don't even know why I'm still talking to you, Hyūga. But since there is no rush anymore..." He put his sword on the box, taking a more comfortable position on it and putting his ankle on his knee, "You need to understand that it would never be enough to change something within a single village, or even said village itself."

She blinked a few times, comprehending what he said.

"H-How come...?"

"I've traveled a lot in the last few years, Hyūga, and I've seen many things. When I left Konoha the last time shortly after the war, I've been convinced by Naruto that everything was going to be fine. That the ninja world was going to get better now that the war was over. He told me that now that after everyone had fought side by side against the threat that'd nearly eliminated all of them, every ninja felt truly united and wouldn't want to hurt each other. Which, I suppose, was true at the moment. But the more I traveled... the more things I saw... the more time passed, the more clear it became that everything was slowly going back to how it was."

Hinata didn't reply first, thinking over his words for a while. As much as she didn't want to believe him, everything Sasuke'd told her until now had turned to be true... Sadly, she had absolutely no reason to think that he was lying right now.

"But... The other Hidden Villages–"

"They are all the same," Sasuke shrugged indifferently, making Hinata purse her lips in displeasure. "What you have witnessed this night is just a drop in the ocean. The problem is not a village, not some people or some ninjas. It's the entire system that has been ruling this world for decades. While it's still in place, nothing will change."

The kunoichi remained silent once again, staring at the floor in front of her and keeping listening to him.

"Wars happened in the past and will happen again because of said system. My clan was wiped out because of it. Young ninjas keep dying in wars and out there on missions because of it. Even your future children are very likely to get killed before they hit puberty because it, just like Sakura fell victim to it last night. This corrupted system of the Hidden Villages... The current ninja world... It needs to fall apart. It needs to end for good. This is the only way to really change something for the better."

Hearing the incredibly cynical and harsh words said in his soft and deep voice made her feel like her heart was about to blow up in pain and desperation. It was as though her very soul was being slowly ripped apart... And not even by Uchiha himself, or rather she didn't blame him for causing her this unbearable suffering.  
Because although Hinata still didn't want to accept it, deep inside, she already knew that he was right.

"Then... Your intention is destroying this world...?"

"No." The girl looked at him in surprise, frowning as if she was unsure if she had heard her former classmate's reply correctly.

"But–"

"It is true that once upon a time, my desires were all about destruction. I have desired a revolution with great passion. But it's different now."

Hyūga shook her head quickly, as if trying to put her thoughts and feelings in order. She totally lost the track of his thought, it seemed, because the young kunoichi absolutely couldn't understand him and his desires anymore.

"T-Then what is it you actually want to do...?"

Sasuke smiled grimly, not looking away from her face as he uttered softly:

"I want Naruto's ideals to fail. Patience is virtue, as they say. I've already lost every single thing I ever had. My life is virtually purposeless... for now at least. So, I will stay here and watch his world crumble and fall apart–"

"And if it doesn't?" she interrupted him, sounding unusually indignant, perhaps even on the brink of being rude at the mention of her boyfriend.

But, to her surprise, he simply shrugged, apparently not considering her attitude and behavior any important.

"Eventually, it will anyway. And if I don't live up to it, another person will definitely be there to take the responsibility and lead the revolution. For now, all I have are two promises to fulfill. The first one is to protect Konoha while it still exists. The second one is the that which I gave Naruto the other day... To let him lead the village and not to do anything to change things to the way I find more suitable. Contrary to what you people probably think of me, I'm a man of my word. I will do exactly as he asked me – I simply won't change anything. I won't interfere until Konoha and this world consume themselves."

She got up slowly, feeling as fists clenched while her whole body began to shake in anger.

"So... knowing that Naruto-kun's efforts to help people will turn to be futile... Knowing how much people from all across the world suffer every day... And having the power to change things... You are not going to do anything at all?"

He simply nodded.

"Yeah. That's what Naruto pleads me to do anyway. Fair enough, isn't it?"

Hinata sighed, shaking her head and tossing the dead criminal's blood stained katana she'd been holding all along aside.

"You are truly an evil person after all, Uchiha-san. Unlike you, I can't just live like I did until now, doing nothing now that I've found out the truth. I will do everything I possibly can to help it. If I join ANBU, I–"

"ANBU? Really, now? It seems that you still don't understand." He sneered in amusement, looking at her as though the girl was an utter fool. "The sole reason why I came there tonight was to get the confirmation. I had assumed that ANBU possess the remaining Sharingan eyes Danzō had retrieved from the corpses of my clansmen years ago. And seeing how these people are obviously under their patronage, it becomes fairly obvious _where_ that thug got an eye to put you and your friends under the genjutsu back then. And now you are going to support this system from within? Very clever indeed. Maybe I'll live up to the interesting part, after all, and Konoha's end will come sooner than I imagined."

"You're wrong." She shook her head, which made the teen's brow cock in slight confusion and a bit of curiosity.

"Alright, I'l humor you. Explain."

She sighed bitterly again, unsure what she was going to say. He wasn't quite wrong if he considered her idea ridiculous, and her reasoning might seem to him as something even more idiotic...  
But the young woman didn't care anymore. It was her duty to do something, to at least try to fix this village and this world. And right now, the only plausible option seemed to be...

"The ANBU–as corrupted as they are–they can do a lot of... things. They have much more freedom than us, regular ninjas. By joining them, I will be able to fight evil in the village... legitimately. Without running away as if I'm doing something wrong. Besides... Naruto-kun is going to be the next Hokage," she suddenly said, almost gasping at the cunning idea that came to her out of nowhere. "And... as his girlfriend... They won't be able to just get rid of me if they consider that–that I know... too much." She raised her head vigorously and looked at Sasuke who seemed to be slightly intrigued now, because he was listening carefully to her, and the young man wasn't mockingly grinning anymore. "Hokage-sama won't risk losing Naruto-kun's loyalty by ordering ANBU to kill me... or to do something nasty to me."

She paused, expecting some kind of reaction from the cruel ninja, but he remained as impassive as always, just keeping looking at her without a sign of emotion, so Hinata decided to continue:

"I believe... It will make compromises possible. I–I will force them to fight criminals instead of having deals with him. They won't have another choice."

"And what if your superior commander will just find a way to suppress your little riot and ruin your pretentious plan? You'll be forced to serve the very thing you want so much to destroy," he peered at her face searchingly, but Hinata didn't notice the genuinely curious note in his voice that didn't sound sarcastic or lecturing for once.

"I–I'll find a way," she replied quietly, looking away. The kunoichi hadn't considered this problem yet, but she didn't want to admit it to _him_.

Sasuke remained mute for a few seconds before finally sighing.

"Fine. Do whatever you want, I don't really care. Just make sure to keep your mouth shut and don't try to throw sand in the wheels on my way."

Hinata nodded. She could've seen this coming, so his final sentence hadn't really surprised her at all.

"Of course. I will honor my promise to you, Sasuke-san. If everything you told me about your intentions is true, then I won't be an obstacle on your way and neither will I reveal anything of what you told and showed to me this night. And also... Thank you for helping me to finally realize the truth. Good night."

She bowed down politely, walking towards the exit as his relaxed, almost friendly voice impaled her back like the sharpest blade:

"Yeah. Make sure you don't. Otherwise, I'll kill you and everyone who finds out because of you."

 **-~o0o~-**

Being careful not to make any noises, Hinata walked into the small ward slowly, afraid to wake up anyone inside the building as it was still very early in the morning.  
A few hours ago, she'd managed to return home unnoticed, and considering the apparent lack of any alarm and ongoing fuss inside the estate, it was clear that nobody had noticed her escape back at midnight either. And although with everything she'd discovered this night, the kunoichi couldn't care less about possible scorns coming from her father for her reckless behavior, it was still a bit relieving that she'd avoided the necessity to listen to all the pointless lecturing.

Needless to say that she hadn't managed to fall asleep this night, deciding to visit her friend in the hospital while the village was still resting in the tranquil bliss of oblivion. The familiar streets didn't seem friendly and welcoming anymore; in fact, nothing around her did. While she was walking across the well known places, somehow, they also seemed foreign to her now. And although there was no open hostility anywhere around, Hyūga knew that it was a must for her to stay on guard every second of her life from now on.

As expected, Ino was still asleep, but at least the blonde looked rather peaceful and healthy now that her face wasn't deadly pale anymore, so the dark haired kunoichi sighed in relief, putting the small pouch of apples and oranges on the nightstand next to her friend's bed and already turning around to leave, but then Yamanaka suddenly coughed, slowly opening her eyes and squinting at her.

"Hinata...?" Her eyes snapped wide open as she recognized the young Hyūga, trying to raise up on the bed but failing as she was apparently still too weakened by her wounds. "It's you... I'm so glad that you are alright...," she almost whispered huskily, coughing again. "Are you, though...?"

It was surprising, but what she had assumed was supposed to be an impossible torture and the hardest thing for her actually turned to be not difficult at all, because when she turned to face the other kunoichi, Hinata's expression remained cheerful as she smiled happily, maintaining a perfect mask of her former self.

"Ino-san!" She stepped towards the bed, bowing down in a probably overly polite greeting. "I–I'm so glad that you are awake! I was beginning to think that you wouldn't make it."

The blonde wrinkled her nose in displeasure and frowned, making another attempt to switch her position to half sitting, somewhat managing it this time.

"Yea... Yesterday when I woke up for the first time, I was told about what'd happened that night. Well... I guess we all screwed up, eh?" There was nothing but bitter sadness and slight anger in her voice, and although Ino now obviously knew that Sakura was dead, she wasn't crying at the memories like she maybe should have.

Her reaction made Hinata wonder if she herself was actually the only overly sensitive female ninja among her peers. Because as girlish and goofy as Yamanaka had always been, she seemed to also be hardened enough to take the reality without wavering as it hit her.

"Y-Yes... I'm so sorry." Hyūga lowered her head, feeling at a loss for words.

"Huh?" The turquoise eyes gave her a confused gaze, making Hinata meet it with a genuinely shameful one. "What do you mean?"

"I... Well... I didn't come there fast enough... I–"

"Please. You have nothing to blame yourself for." Ino squeezed out a weak smile, looking away.

"R-Really...?"

The blonde shrugged, still avoiding the tear stained white eyes.

"Of course. We were stupid enough to fall for some low class genjutsu, and we have payed for it. It had nothing to do with you, really. I'm just glad that the bastard hasn't done anything to you, Hinata. Especially now that I know that he'd been targeting you since the very beginning."

The Hyūga kunoichi whimpered then, shaking her head.

"But... I could have come earlier... I could have saved you–!"

Yamanaka turned towards her, frowning as she interrupted her friend:

"Could you, really? Wasn't Sasuke-kun the one who saved both of us at the end of the day?"

Hinata bit her lip and winced, realizing that she was actually correct. If not for Uchiha, all the three of them would probably have been buried by now.

"Y-Yes... I suppose you are right, Ino-san. Yet still... I feel guilty for some reason..."

"Oh, stop, you silly. It doesn't matter now anyway, to be honest. There is nothing we can do to fix stuff, so we just have to do our best to get over it... we gotta move on." The blonde looked away again, murmuring, "I just wish someone took care of those who did this."

Desperately wanting to reassure her friend by telling her about the events of the last night, Hinata still remained mute on the matter, remembering the promise she had given to Uchiha and his grim threat that weirdly seemed more like a simple warning, an almost friendly one.

"Oh... I think ANBU will take care of them in no time," she smiled cheerfully, to which Ino snorted contemptuously and muttered with a solid grain of doubt in the voice:

"Yeah, sure. Like hell they will."

It was a very strange comment which made it hard for the Hyūga girl to keep a neutral expression up as she asked quietly:

"Why do you say that, Ino-san?"

The blond sighed, pursing her lips thoughtfully before looking at Hinata worriedly.

"Look, I'm not supposed to tell you this, but since you're my friend, and we're kinda in this mess together... You know what my dad does in the village, right? I mean, in the investigation department and all that. He has to work with ANBU a lot, and so do I. It's true that they used to be top notch guys before, but nowadays, they are a mess. Because the job is very dangerous and, at the same time, it's not as well payed as it was prior to the war, they even allow incompetent plebs join their lines nowadays, and, well... It's a pitiful sight, if you ask me."

Hinata lowered her head, sighing sadly. She'd had no idea about that, of course... Maybe joining ANBU wasn't a very good idea, after all. But was there any other way...?

"I see...," she muttered slowly, suddenly feeling absolutely lost again.

"Well, it's not that all of them are like that. It's just that they are just a shadow of their past glory nowadays, that's all. Dad says they really lack powerful and devoted ninjas nowadays, which is no wonder, really. Who would want to work their asses off and put their lives in such risk just to earn as much as I earn in the flower shop with my part time job? Maybe even less... meh." She snorted again, shaking her head.

"I suppose you are right, Ino-san. Only a very devoted person would want such a job."

"Yeah, someone like Naruto, I guess. But as we both know, he's not suitable for working in the shadows at all, ha-ha!" she giggled, winking at her friend, and the reminder of Uzumaki made the girl smile against her will.

Ino was right. Someone like him, despite all the dedication, loyalty and deep love for the village he carried, would never fit into the uniform of an ANBU member. It was just not for him, frankly and literally.  
But what about herself? Would she be able to become a part of it? Hinata sincerely desired to help Konoha as much as she could... or at least to make an attempt to save this place if Uchiha's prediction about its inevitable doom was accurate.

"Indeed. Naruto-kun is certainly not the type to become an ANBU. But... Do you think I could become one? Hypothetically," she added quickly, seeing how Yamanaka's expression changed to a surprised one at her question.

"You...? But why would you want something like that, Hinata? Are you nuts?"

Hyūga frowned at the question, locking her hands together in front of herself before muttering:

"Ino-san... After what happened that night, I don't feel safe inside Konoha anymore, and... uh... In truth, it's not even about feeling safe at all. I–," she sighed, shaking her head and trying to collect her scattered thoughts, "There is not much for me to do as a regular kunoichi nowadays. Frankly, all I do is training for no real purpose within my clan's territory, sometimes leaving it for a while to see Naruto-kun and my friends. I am virtually useless, and... I want it to be the other way. I want to serve the village, to help everything fix. Now that I've seen the calamity that is really going on behind the veil of peace, I just can't keep living the way I did before."

Ino hemmed quietly, looking at her friend searchingly and perhaps even cautiously now, as though it was a different person standing in front of her. Someone foreign and new, someone she had yet to make up her mind about.

"Does Naruto know? What about your dad?"

Hinata shook her head slowly, biting her lip hesitantly.

"No. I don't want either of them to know."

Strangely, the blonde's features softened at her words, and she nodded approvingly.

"I see. So, you are doing it for your own sake, after all. That's great!"

Hyūga looked at her perplexedly, mumbling:

"What do you mean...?"

Ino smirked in amusement.

"What I mean is that you are not doing it to impress someone or to prove yourself to them, but rather because _you_ want it. It's a good thing. I'm glad to see that you've finally come to this point."

Although one could consider her words as something offensive, Hinata felt nothing but slight shock as she heard her friend's thoughts on the matter, realizing all of sudden that Yamanaka was actually right.  
Perhaps for the first time in her life, she'd made a decision not because of someone else, not for the sake of another person, but because this was what she wanted to do.  
Was it... good?

"I–I guess you're right..."

"Of course I am. Actually, joining ANBU may be not such a bad idea, after all. Now that I think about it, I'll consider it myself, I guess. You know, I have yet to reflect on everything that happened lately, and, well... I can't say that I don't share your concerns about the village and all the crap that's going on."

Hinata nodded automatically, barely listening to the girl at this point as she had a lot of things to take care of as soon as possible.  
Besides, although she hadn't thought about it before, she now realized that her father would most definitely be furious when he would find out about her decision. And he would most definitely be against the idea...  
Which meant that it had to be done before he would know.

 **-~o0o~-**

"Wait a second... Did I get it right?" Kakashi frowned at her, rubbing his sleepy eyes with his palm and staring at the girl in disbelief. "You want to join ANBU... and at the same time, you want to keep it secret from everyone?"

"Yes," Hinata nodded affirmatively, kneeling in front of the Sixth, "I want to serve the village as an ANBU member, but I don't think my father would approve it. But the decision is made nonetheless, and I'm absolutely sure on it. Please, Hokage-sama. I'm begging you... let me join the formation," she almost whispered, suddenly feeling really desperate as she realized that should the gray haired man deny this possibility for her right now, all would be lost for her.

"Hm-m," Hatake still looked a bit lost and quite baffled, but now that he scratched his chin thoughtfully, looking at the kunoichi who was clearly avoiding his eyes as she made an overly formal gesture (considering that the two of them were currently alone in his office), the man leaned against the back of his chair, critically eyeing her up and down, "Please, get up. There is no need for such formalities, I'm aware of the depth of your loyalty to Konohagakure."

She did as he told her, straightening her back and meeting his puzzled gaze with her emotionless one, not saying anything and just waiting for him to continue.

"Whereas I don't mind your decision personally, but... considering all the trouble it may cause to me if I agree to enroll you, I'd like to know your reasoning beforehand. What made you want to join all of sudden? You never seemed to be interested in this kind of job before."

Hinata bit her lip nervously, taking a deep breath and thinking swiftly.  
She was forbidden from telling the truth, obviously. At least all of it anyway. But she could still share some things... some of them that wouldn't hurt Sasuke and his plans in any way.

"I... after what'd happened the other day, I've come to realize that my view on the situation in the village was very wrong. I believe that **–** that I can't afford just sitting home and doing nothing while any person, even the strongest ninjas can get killed at their homes. Besides... I heard from my sister that ANBU lacks good and devoted ninjas nowadays. And, well... I believe that I match these requirements, Hokage-sama," she uttered calmly, watching his reaction attentively as she was trying to prepare herself for his possible next question.

"But why keep it secret? Aside from Hiashi-san, of course, but surely, he can't be the sole reason behind this wish of yours, can he? For all I know, he loves his daughters enough to swallow it if you are that dedicated to the idea."

She lowered her eyes, but this time, the girl did it on purpose, trying to make it seem like she was a bit embarrassed and shy about what she was about to say.

"I–Well... I've been teased...," she stopped, and once again, it was on purpose as the kunoichi was avoiding looking into her superior's eyes.

"You... what?" the man deadpanned, sounding a bit stunned which was, to her amusement, exactly what she'd expected and wanted.

"W-Well... My friends, they often tease me for working hard just to impress Naruto-kun. I–I don't want anyone to think that I'm doing it for that reason. This is my own desire, and I don't want anyone to know about it, at least for a while. Hopefully, it's not a big problem, Hokage-sama..."

The man hemmed again, muttering thoughtfully,

"Uh huh... No, it's not a problem at all, for me anyway. It _is_ a problem for you, though. I hope you do realize that it will be up to you how are you going to live a double life from now on."

"Of course," she nodded quickly. Albeit she had yet to think it thoroughly, the kunoichi didn't expect it to become a big problem for her, even though it was perhaps a little bit naive on her part.

"Very well, then. Actually, we are currently forming a brand new secret task squad, and I think it will suit perfectly for you. So, if I add you in...," he wrote something on the list among many papers that were lying on the desk in front of him, looking at it for a second before raising his head again, "There is only one spot remaining open. That's good. Come now, let's go and get you a set of uniform."

Having grabbed the list and hidden it in his pocket, Kakashi got up from his table, and she followed him outside the room as they walked downstairs into the huge basement under the building, striding through the well lit passage to the locked storage.  
As the man handed her the clothes and the mask the shape of which ironically resembled a lioness, Hatake crossed his arms, watching the girl as she was carefully putting the pieces of uniform into her bag.

"I expect you to come to my office in the evening to meet the rest members of your team. From now on, you'll be assigned for missions a lot more frequently than before, so I suggest you to prepare your father, your friends and the rest of your family for this sudden change if you want everything to go smoothly for you. Especially with Naruto," he added shrewdly, careful about her reaction to the mention of her boyfriend.

"I understand," she bowed respectfully once again, maintaining a neutral expression and giving the cold mask in her hand a long and thoughtful stare before hiding it in her bag as well. "May I ask you a question, Hokage-sama?"

The man nodded.

"Sure. Feel free to, but please keep in mind that there will be a long briefing for you and your team as soon as we finish forming it."

She smiled, shaking her head quickly.

"N-No, it's just that... Well, it has to do with my sister."

"Oh... right," the man nodded in understanding, looking up as though he was trying to remember something. "Hanabi, was it...?"

"Yes. I just wanted to ask... I mean, I know that she is going to join ANBU as well soon, so I wanted to make sure that–"

"That she is not in your squad? No worries. I wouldn't do this considering that you want to keep everything in secret. No, actually, the leader of your squad specifically asked me not to let her become a part of this team."

Hinata's eyebrows raised high in surprise, disappearing under her forelock as she blinked a few times.

"O-Oh...?"

"Yeah. I was confused as well, but he told me exactly this, I'm quoting: 'I don't care whom you put under my command, but I don't want the Hyūga girl in my team no matter what. I'm not going to babysit someone as dumb and weak as her.' Actually, that was quite weird, because I don't think he knows much about Hanabi-chan. Actually, I really doubt that they even have met before."

The kunoichi's face paled at his words as her eyes widened as she recognized the already familiar laconic and rough pattern of speech.

"Uh... Y-Yes, it is strange indeed. But... may I know his name? Perhaps I happen to know this person, so I could tell you something on the matter if the two of them had some... history."

Kakashi scratched his nape before shrugging and saying:

"Well, I know that you are trustworthy enough, so I don't think it would hurt if I tell you beforehand. Yes, you are familiar with him, but I honestly doubt that you know him well enough, even though he is your former classmate from the Academy. But he is also the one who saved you that night, so I think you will get along." He then shoved his hand into the pocket of his pants and took out the piece of paper, showing her the list with a few names on it – some of them were familiar, and some were not.

But at the very top of it was the one Hinata'd already known she would see there.

 _Uchiha Sasuke._

* * *

 **Playing with fire can be very dangerous. If you are not careful enough, it may hurt you quite a lot, sometimes even leaving you permanently damaged or just dead.  
But what if you become the fire yourself...?  
**  
 **See you in the next chapter: Teamwork!**


	6. Teamwork

**Chapter 5. Teamwork**

"This den is unexpectedly peaceful... I always imagined it to be the opposite, you know. Especially back when we visited it with Orochimaru-sama. Who knows, maybe I'll even grow to like it one day," the creepy smile that bared shark-like triangle teeth could've scared away anyone else, but his companion didn't seem to pay the white haired young man any attention. Instead, he kept gazing at the horizon through his half closed eyelids, thinking about various things that occupied his mind this evening.

Uchiha Sasuke wasn't a kind person, and neither was he a caring or a compassionate one by any means. And although it was a very rare occasion for him to express his sincere thoughts and beliefs to somebody else, anyone who knew him well enough could say for sure that he was quite honest and blunt despite his dubious reputation and the impression he made on all those who feared this man across the ninja world. That's probably why he seemed so enigmatic to most – not due to him keeping a lot of secrets (dark or not) but rather because the shinobi was never really looking for a contact with another person, and neither did he ever tell people anything unless they asked him something directly. Therefore naturally and logically, it was even more seldom when somebody dared to actually ask him a question, probably never even hoping for him to reply by default.

Oh, how wrong they, in truth, were, and how much they, in fact, missed...

"Yeah," he finally hemmed quietly in response after a few seconds, to which the other man sighed with slight irritation and mumbled:

"Why are we doing this, again? I thought you said that Konoha's ANBU is full of shit. I guess a friend made you change your mind? Or maybe someone more than just a friend, huh?" the violet eyed ninja grinned at him teasingly, to which Uchiha merely winced, and even that slightest reaction was barely notable.

Bonds, friendship, love – all these feelings weren't quite alien to Sasuke, and although he still had those slightly searing cinders of them somewhere deep in his heart, he also realized it clearly that he was long past the point where he could possibly return to being a normal person. A sane person. A person accepted in his homeland or anywhere else. Or rather...

In fact, he didn't want it himself. He didn't want to accept anyone, not really caring what they thought of himself in the slightest. And perhaps this was the real obstacle here.

"No..."

Not that it bothered him at all, though. After everything he'd gone through, the young Uchiha had learned that reflecting on the past was always just as pointless as having big concerns about the future. Because the past had already happened, so it just couldn't be changed even if that were his intention. Unless there was a secret time traveling jutsu, of course, which probably wouldn't be that surprising considering everything they'd seen before, but this idea didn't really cross the man's mind anyway.  
And the future... It was always undetermined. Unpredictable. Anything could happen to him and to the world any moment, and even the most perfect long term plan could just randomly fail just because of some factor nobody could have possibly considered.

"...It's because I've seen a phantom opportunity to make a change this way. This is better than to stay rotting and doing nothing."

Simply put, Sasuke didn't really know what he wanted from his life anymore. Sometimes, the degree of desperation that consumed his soul whenever he thought about the utter hopelessness of the slowly decaying ninja world was so high that he just couldn't even think straight, having a hard time controlling his burning desire to erase everything around him from existence.  
And sometimes, on the contrary, the apathy that filled him made the young man want to shut down all of his feelings for good and to just go for countless pointless missions until somebody would end his miserable existence by a lucky chance. Yes... his life had become truly pitiful.

"Meh... boring," replied the other man slowly, chewing a long spike of some herb. "Sounds like we're about to play some shitty games."

Sasuke couldn't quite argue with that. And now that the two of them were sitting on the thick branches near the top of a very tall ancient oak somewhere deep in the Forest of Death, leaning against its trunk and watching lazily as the red sun was about to cross the horizon on the dim orange sky, Uchiha was feeling unusually conflicted for the reason he honestly struggled to grasp.

"I need a distraction. I feel sick and tired of just observing things. I've already seen enough anyway."

Now that he thought about it, it all probably took its beginning on the day of Sakura's funeral. No, contrary to what everyone he'd talked to seemed to believe, the death of his pink haired comrade hadn't really affected him all that much. They'd never been very close anyway, and besides, in his opinion, she'd really had it coming all though her life. Always too careless and reckless for a kunoichi of her age and her level of power, Haruno Sakura was simply bound to get herself killed due to her constant lack of vigilance; due to not understanding the nature of her own kind, and how amazingly twisted was the world in which they lived.  
However, something had ignited the long lost tiny spark of hope in his heart once again that day, but he wasn't quite sure if it was a good thing.  
Because even from Sasuke's own point of view, his intentions were anything but pure.

"Well... if this is the case, then I guess you've picked some interesting teammates for us to have fun with."

Sasuke gave his old accomplice a short absent glance, letting out a quiet sigh before returning his gaze back to the sky.  
Actually, he had no clue what the other teammates would be. Because he only needed a certain person under his control, and all the rest would most likely not matter in the end.

"Not really... Essentially, this isn't about team building at all."

The creepy looking shinobi chuckled at his words and drawled:

"Of course. After all, if you take out the team in teamwork, it's just work. Now who wants that?"

Who...? Well, that was an easy question. That Hyūga... the stupid girl Naruto seemed to be in love with. She probably didn't realize it herself how valuable she turned to be for Sasuke now that he had this little venture on his mind. But perhaps the word 'valuable' was a bit misplaced here, for one shouldn't get his rather unusual attitude towards her wrong – if Uchiha had a single concern regarding the girl (aside from her survival, obviously), it was only that by no means was she allowed to find out what he truly wanted to do and how crucial she, in fact, was in order for his plan to succeed.

"Some of them probably do," he uttered softly, remembering Naruto, Sakura, Hinata and the rest of his former classmates from the Academy.

The white haired man rolled his eyes, then, snorting arrogantly.

"Of course. Typical scrubs of the Leaf. No offense, but I always found those especially retarded. With all the bullshit about friendship, ninja brotherhood and all the other trash they feed to their kids. Fucking hypocrites."

Sasuke squinted slightly as though he felt offended by his companion's words, but there was actually nothing dire in his expression – it was just unusually calculating and thoughtful for once.  
Hyūga Hinata was, without a doubt, the key to making his old idea of revolution viable once again. Whether she was a gift to him or a curse (considering how irritating he found her in most cases), by using her wisely, he could easily outplay both Naruto and Kakashi on their own field without either of them even knowing what hit them before it would already be too late.  
And, lucky him, she was already sitting tight on his hook without realizing it. Because everything he'd told her last night was true... except one thing. And that was the first time when he'd deceived somebody in years, no less. But it was definitely worth it...

"Don't worry, we're not looking for friends or comrades. What we need here are servants. A small group of loyal people we could use as our eyes, ears and hands inside Konoha to achieve our goals." Yes. Contrary to what he'd said to Hinata back there, underground, he hadn't given up.

No matter how skeptical Sasuke was about the future, he was also absolutely sure on one thing. Naruto's idea of peace had already failed, and it was purely a matter of time until everything around them would collapse, with bloodthirsty chaos devouring their fragile world once again. The current world simply had no future. And although the last Uchiha realized that his plan was also very far from perfect and it could very well fail, too, he was still going to try it. Because Unlike Naruto, he couldn't afford doing nothing and waiting for things to fix themselves miraculously one day.  
It was simply not his ninja way.

"Oh... a coup, then? Now ain't that interesting? So, I take it you're planning to get ANBU under your command this way?"

Uchiha's expression finally changed as he grinned, glancing at the swordsman again.

"Not at all. It's about a single person. The rest are pretty much irrelevant."

Yes, as ridiculous as it could seem at first, it was just about that Hyūga woman. No matter how ludicrous, clumsy and repulsively kind and foolish she seemed to him, the kunoichi was truly unique and priceless in one sense – she was Naruto's girlfriend. Thus, knowing the blond as good as Sasuke did, he realized that she would most likely end up as the wife of the future Hokage, too.  
And on top of this, she'd made a huge mistake by taking his bait, even though she didn't realize its nature... what an irony. The young Uchiha always found it hilarious how easily people could be fooled into believing that something others shared with them reluctantly was an important secret of some sort just because they weren't very much willing to share it. And now, simply because he'd made it seem to be this very case and due to her own naivety, she now believed that the two of them shared a very big, dark and incredibly important secret...  
But in truth, there would be no significant difference whether Naruto and the others knew about Konoha's underworld and what Uchiha'd shown her the other day or not. Frankly, Sasuke half expected them to be aware of it, because it wasn't just something recent or new in any way – criminals'd always existed within the village, if only had behaved a bit less imposingly than they did nowadays.

"Hm-m... Interesting. So, you got a girl, after all?"

This time, Sasuke was unable to hold back an ironical chuckle himself.

In reality, by threatening her the way he had when they last met, the raven haired shinobi had only wanted to test her. To see how ignorant and naive Hyūga Hinata actually was and just how much did she not know about the village and their world... And also how easy it would be to gain her trust. She turned out to be much worse than he'd anticipated, but that was only good for Uchiha and his plans, of course.  
Not only had he poisoned her mind and soul with the darkness she'd miraculously managed to avoid all though her life before, but she now was also bound by her promise to him. And if Sasuke's judge on people and their personalities was any good, she would never break it, both because of his threat and also out of her noble and idealistic nature.  
In other words, she was now his pawn which would most certainly become the queen one day. All he had to do now was to keep tainting her, and being her commander and mentor was a perfect opportunity to do so.

"You are almost correct. She only matters because she's someone else's girlfriend."

His companion whistled then, finally understanding what kind of a plot Sasuke was actually creating.

"Naruto's, then...?"

"Yeah."

They remained silent for a few seconds, thinking all in all the same.

"That's really cruel, man. Even for someone like you."

"Is it, though?" Uchiha raised his head after thinking for a while, looking up the heavy sky above – a thunderstorm was coming, which was always amusing to him. "In a way, I'm saving both of them."

"Uh huh?" The violet eyes narrowed mischievously at the former avenger as their owner gave him an understanding grin. "Saving from what, exactly?"

Sasuke's face became deadpan, with the small notes of joy disappearing the same second as he imagined everything that awaited his friend, his lover and their village should things keep going the way they did nowadays.  
At the very best, a miserable existence in poverty among all those who would hate Naruto for his failed leadership. An upcoming civil and possibly another world war. Fratricide that would inevitably affect their family that had yet to be created, too... And, ultimately, nothing but pain, loss and death.  
No, what Uchiha was planning to do was not cruel. Harsh and vicious – yes, without a doubt. But it had nothing to do with cruelty, or at least so the young shinobi believed himself.  
If anything, he was saving them from...

"Themselves," he replied simply, turning his head to the left and raising his only hand slightly as he noticed a bunch of ninjas slowly approaching them from the darkness of the forest – indicating that their conversation was over. "They are coming."

"Alright. Shall I put my mask on?"

"Not yet. Let's go." He raised up slowly, and so did the other shinobi before they jumped onto the nearest tree, heading towards the small group that was now just a hundred yards away from the two of them.

It took them just a couple seconds to catch up, and now they were standing right in front of Uchiha – each wearing similar uniforms, just like the one that was currently on his old teammate who was standing right next to him, studying the four ninjas curiously.  
Sasuke recognized two of them instantly, and the other two only seemed somewhat familiar, but he couldn't say for sure who they were while their faces were still covered by the masks.  
Lioness. Wolf. Viper. Chameleon. What a mismatching company... Fortunately, he was only interested in the first one.

"Take your masks off," he ordered, and all the four of them followed his command simultaneously after a moment of hesitation.

"Hyūga..." He eyed the girl up and down, finding it surprisingly amusing how blank and unreadable her face was at the moment. She had to be very displeased by the fact that he was going lead her squad from now on, but she still took it like a real kunoichi. Maybe she wasn't a complete waste, after all... though the huge doubt still lingered.

"Yamanaka...," his gaze then slid onto the blonde who was holding a wolf-like mask in her hand, looking a bit more troubled and nervous than her friend, and smiling happily at him as he called out her name. Sasuke didn't know much about her, but he could remember that she'd been his fan girl in the past. Because of that, the way she was showing affection towards him was slightly irritating, and it was a bad thing. Uchiha hadn't expected that there would be someone he'd dislike more than Hinata.  
But at least now he knew that they had some canon fodder just in case.

"And you are...?" he then looked at the brown haired woman with the mask that resembled a viper's head, who bowed at him in a dry greeting.

"Tenten. It's a pleasure to meet you again, Uchiha-san." Her response was neutral and polite, and unlike Ino, she didn't show any feelings for him at all even though she hinted that they'd met before. A good one, he concluded. This kunoichi would most likely be quiet and prompt in the future, and this would mean less trouble and headache for him.

His gaze stopped on the final member of the team – the tall boy with short black hair and a bit overly pale skin. He resembled Sasuke himself quite a lot in looks, especially with his indifferent black eyes and his all in all impassive expression – and then the last Uchiha remembered him slightly belatedly.

"Your name is Sai, isn't it?"

The teen nodded, and just like Hinata, he didn't show any emotions regarding their meeting or Uchiha himself.  
Another good one, it seemed.

"Correct, Sasuke-san. It's been a while."

"Yeah." He turned to the right, pointing at the final member of the team whom he himself already knew pretty well. "This is Suigetsu. None of you is familiar with him, but he is now a part of this squad according to the Hokage's decision."

"Oi, I can speak for myself, you know," the man showed them his mask that resembled a seagull, and Ino's slightly disgusted expression at his creepy smile didn't miss Uchiha's eye. "Suigetsu Hōzuki, nice to meet you. I'm new to Konoha, but the Sixth Hokage was kind enough to accept me in this wonderful village. I've already worked with Sasuke before, so I can assure you that he's a cool leader just in case if any of you has some doubts. Hopefully, we'll all become a big happy family, kids. I'm so looking forward to working with you!"

Suppressing a grin at his downright mocking tone and the cheerful thumbs up Suigetsu showed to the others, Sasuke just hemmed, turning back toward them.

"Settle down, everyone. I want each of you to introduce yourselves and to tell me what are you good at, as well as your reasons to join this squad. I understand the Hokage was forming this unit out of ninjas of different specialties, but I need to know what exactly are the capabilities and ambitions of every one of you."

Following his order without any questions once again, they sat on the heavy branch just a couple yards away from him and Suigetsu. Contrary to Uchiha's expectations, Sai was the first one to open his mouth:

"I've been working under Danzō-sama since my childhood until you killed him, Sasuke-san. My specialties are infiltration, spying and observing. I'm also a decent assassin, but my signature move is the ability to draw animated creatures with my special ninja art, including flying ones. We could use them as mounts as well as scouts for any purposes, just for your information. My reason to join ANBU was the frustration I feel due to the way this structure functions nowadays. With the experience I received in Root, I believe I can narrow down a lot of its flaws so that the Hokage can fix them. And I also intend to become an example for others to follow."

"Very well," Sasuke nodded approvingly. This guy was indeed pretty good and could be very useful in some situations. No wonder they'd put him in Team Seven instead of himself years ago... His reasoning was also satisfactory and could be called similar to Uchiha's own. "Tenten, what about you?"

The young woman cleared her throat, straightening her back as she said flatly:

"My specialties are steel arms, traps and stealth assassinations. I'm an expert in these things, but aside from that, I'm afraid there is not much to say, Sasuke-san. My reason to join ANBU was that I feel highly underestimated by my superiors. I want to prove them wrong and to improve my skills by getting more experience."

Uchiha nodded again, gripping the hilt of his sword reflexively at the mention of steel arms. Perhaps now he would have someone new to assist him in training with his own weapon... another pleasant surprise. So far, everything really turned out unexpectedly decent.

"Good old classic," he commented briefly, shifting his gaze to Ino who smiled at him again. "Yamanaka, what are you going to say?"

"Uh... well, I'm an expert investigator. I'm very good at the mind control jutsu of my clan as well as reading memories of incapacitated people. In combination with Hinata's Byakugan, we can use my techniques from long distances, so we two have a good synergy. I'm also good at everything concerning poisons... Oh! I'm also decent at medical ninjutsu, too. Although I'm not nearly as good as Sakura was, I've still learned a few things from Tsunade-sama, as well as on my own. From textbooks, I mean. So... that's it. My reason to join was my friend's death and also my wish to get some new experience. Ah, and also, Sasuke-kun..." she took a strange looking long black box from behind her back, showing it to him. "This is the last gift from Sakura... She wanted to give it to you herself, but sadly, never got a chance. I thought about doing this in private later, but–"

He frowned. His initial desire to make her shut up at the mention of the pink haired kunoichi suddenly vanished as he felt the slightest bit of sadness to his own surprise.

"It's fine. Open it."

She nodded, unlocking the box after a second of hesitation as the girl glanced at the ninjas that were staring at them curiously.  
A big cloud of icy cold steam rushed out of it as soon as the box was opened, and then Sasuke immediately recognized the item inside of it. It was an artificial hand made out of the familiar snowy white material.  
The young man sighed, narrowing his eyes at the last gift of his deceased former teammate. Even though he hadn't wanted to restore his long lost limb originally... Now that he thought about it, this was probably a good idea to do so, especially when he'd already made the final decision regarding his past and his future. There was no reason to punish himself for his mistakes any longer, so...

"You said you could perform medical ninjutsu... is that right?" the teen asked distantly, even though he hadn't really forgotten her words – it was just an attempt to hide his own brief moment of embarrassing hesitation.

"Y-Yes...!"

"I presume you've never reapplied someone's limb before."

She lowered her eyes shamefully, shaking her head.

"Well, I could try... But I haven't, no..."

"Then watch me carefully, this may be a valuable experience for you – exactly what you wanted."

He then took off his cloak and his shirt, revealing his well toned and quite scarred bare torso which instantly drew the attention of every female around – even Hinata's, albeit she quickly looked away and blushed. Although Sasuke never noticed their reactions, offhandedly throwing the clothes on the wood under his feet and picking the cold limb that consisted of the First Hokage's cells.  
As he attached it to the his shoulder, the raven haired ninja made some of his chakra stream into the junction, dramatically increasing the activity and thus the temperature of the cells around it, both his own and the foreign ones – and then, with a quiet hissing sound and a light puff of steam, the white hand began changing its shape slowly, becoming the mirror image of his own right limb as the teen clenched his new fingers, giving the white flesh an estimating look.  
It was both disgusting and pleasant at the same time, this new feeling. He realized that these cells weren't really his, which made him feel a little defiled in a bizarre way, but at the same time, Sasuke now felt complete once again. And far more powerful than before, too.  
This feeling made him close his eyes and take a small moment of silent gratitude for Sakura before he bowed down and gripped his shirt, putting it back on.

"Hyūga," he said abruptly, buttoning his cloak on his neck. "Your turn"

Hinata flinched at the mention of her name, finally turning to face her new commander and frowning slightly at him, although appearing notably relieved now that he had his clothes on him again.

"Uh... My reason to join ANBU is my desire to fight criminals in our village and our country. I–I think I'm good at using my dōjutsu, and I know some advanced secret techniques of the Hyūga clan. I'm not allowed to reveal some of them, but...," she swallowed nervously, looking deep into his eyes in an apparent attempt to find some empathy, probably thinking that he, of all people, could understand the importance of protecting secrets of a dōjutsu; but he showed none, so she continued talking quietly in a couple of seconds, "Anyhow, there is not much more I can do. Like Ino-san said, I have good synergy with her, but other than that, I don't think I'm very versatile, so–"

"We'll work on it, then," Sasuke interrupted her and nodded, ignoring her perplexed look and turning towards Suigetsu. "You, now."

The white haired boy's brow cocked as he muttered lazily:

"Uh... Is that really necessary?" He sighed at Uchiha's impassive and awaiting stare, and turned towards the others, smiling as pleasantly as he could. "I'm a cool swordsman, and I'm almost immortal, because whatever shit you do to me, I can just shake it off by turning my body into water. That's my kekkei genkai... What else to say? Figure the rest out yourselves, pals. I can't be assed to explain basics here." He smirked, winking at Ino who winced at him in return, turning away and rolling her eyes. "Ah, and I joined this party because the Hokage ordered me to and I had nothing better to do, apparently."

"Hn. Fair enough." Sasuke finally sat down himself then, covering the left half of his face with his brand new hand. "I shall now tell you a few things about myself."

Everyone's attention got instantly drawn to him as every single ninja stared at the teen who activated his Sharingan.

"Normally, I would prefer to keep it secret, but since we are going to work together for some continuous amount of time, it would probably get revealed eventually anyway. Moreover, now that we have all the three dōjutsu in this unit, it would be good for us to know each other's full capabilities." His last line was directed at Hinata, obviously, and although she didn't get it right away, it took her only a couple of seconds to realize that he was indirectly talking to her – the girl's eyes widened and she pursed her lips, looking at him cautiously.

"My right eye is the Sharingan. Considering that all of you are at least jōnin level, I expect you to know everything about its properties, so I won't elaborate on them that much. The abilities of my Mangekyō Sharingan are also well known, so let's skip this part as well." He brushed a few strands of his black hair away, revealing his closed left eye. "There is another dōjutsu I possess, though."

The eyelids opened, and everyone except Sai and Suigetsu gasped at the sight of the legendary eye.

"This is... Rinnegan?!" It was a bit surprising to see that the blonde, of all people, recognized it first, but Sasuke only felt relief at that – perhaps she wasn't a complete idiot, after all.

"Yeah," he nodded, gazing at everyone around himself with both of his mismatching eyes. "It's the final step of Sharingan's evolution. I awakened it in the end of the War, and this is the sole thing that makes me one of two strongest ninjas currently alive... And, naturally, it puts me way above everyone of you power wise. Therefore I'd like to make a few things between us clear once and for all," he closed his left eye again, covering it with his hair the way he always did. "From this day on, you are under my command. You will obey my orders, and I won't tolerate defiance in any form. Is that clear?"

Everyone nodded, so Uchiha continued:

"All of you, despite being decent ninjas by common standards, still lack practice and experience in many aspects. The Hokage informed me that we have a couple months to spend on training as a team and on preparations for the upcoming work, but make no mistake – we will spend it on pulling everyone here to the level where you at least won't be an embarrassment to me. Is this clear, too?"

Only Tenten seemed to be slightly offended by his words, seeing the barely notable frown on her face – probably because she knew that he was younger than her, but the woman still nodded again nonetheless, just like everyone else.

"And the most important matter." He made a pause, making sure that everyone was listening to him very carefully, which they were. "As you well know, ANBU is a very corrupted institute that needs to be reformed. However, this is not our job. What we must do is to become not only the best squad in this organization – we have to become the most feared and respected group of ninjas among all the countries. A single mention of our squad must make other shinobi and kunoichi run away in horror, forgetting their own names and tasks at the mere thought of facing us. Therefore, our goal is to become the elite among elite. When your training is finished, there will be no match for you in the world. And this is not going to be a walk in the park. So, I'm going to suggest it only once."

He met the gazes of each and every one of his subordinates one by one, to his own amusement seeing nothing but dedication and relentlessness in their eyes.

"Any of you can still get out of this. Just leave now, go to the office of the Sixth and resign. This is your only chance. Because my own reason to join ANBU is to make Konoha second to none, and I'll do whatever it takes for it to happen."

Nobody moved. And knowing the way Kakashi's brain worked, all of them hadn't been chosen randomly. All these ninjas shared common goals, and seemed to be truly and genuinely devoted to Konoha... It looked like his former sensei intended to make a shining example for the rest of the organization's members out of their team. And as pitiful and stupid as it was, Sasuke actually didn't mind it at all.  
If anything, it went perfectly along with his own plans. Being Konoha's finest also meant having Konoha's absolute trust and love. And these things were what he needed very much...  
Smiling reservedly at his own thoughts rather than at his new subordinates, the ninja nodded then, getting up and straightening his back.

"Excellent. If any of you has anything to say or to ask me or each other, feel free to do so. We are supposed to get to know each other here, after all."

"I have a question," almost instantly said Tenten, nodding at his sword. "What is this weapon? I heard that you're a master swordsman, and sorry for my curiosity, but I wish to know what kind of steel do you prefer."

A bit amazed by a non-personal question coming from a girl, Sasuke drew his blade, handing it to her which she accepted with her eyes widening in a pleasant surprise – she probably hadn't expected him to do so.

"It's a chokutō I received from Orochimaru. The original one was destroyed when we fought... Madara," he said, reasonably deciding not to bring up Kaguya's name just in case. "Thus I had to replace it after the war. It's not a replica, just a similar one."

"Is this...," she almost gasped, staring at the shining blade and touching it with her slightly trembling fingers, "...A Kusanagi...?"

"Yeah."

"B-But I thought it was unique..."

Sasuke shrugged, taking the sword back from her hands and hiding the weapon in its scabbard again.

"Not quite. This was Orochimaru's last one as far as he told me, but I know where to get a few more, though it's not a trivial task. These swords are priceless, after all. However... perhaps I will tell you one day." He gave the girl the smallest of his smiles, and this gesture was enough to make her jump up happily and clap her hands joyfully at the mention of such possibility.

Maybe it wouldn't be that difficult to get their loyalty, after all.

* * *

 **As they say, one old friend is always better than a few new ones, just like a fragile peace is always better than a solid war. But perhaps sometimes, that is not really the case...?**

 **See you in the next chapter: Happy Three Friends!**


	7. Happy Three Friends

**Chapter 6. Happy Three Friends**

"Oi, Hinata! Come on, don't you sleep on me! We still have to make it to Kurenai-sensei's new place with all this crap, and as much as I adore you, I'm not gonna carry it all by myself, especially with you resting on my back! Ugh!"

The girl's eyes snapped open as she reflectively backed off from Kiba's back on which she, apparently, had inadvertently leaned as she blacked out while they were walking towards their former teacher's house.

"S-sorry... Uh... I'm just... I didn't sleep well last night," she confessed, wincing and squinting her eyes before readjusting her backpack and striding forward again.

"Yeah, we kinda noticed. Why, though? Don't tell me that Naruto is such a beast in bed!" She could hear his goofy smirk even without seeing his face, and although Inuzuka couldn't see her at the moment either, she still blushed at the lewd comment.

"K-Kiba-kun...! It's nothing like that! Please, stop being such a pervert," she stuttered, looking away shamefully.

"I must admit that he has a point. It is a little weird and unusual to see you in such an unhealthy state, and I also noticed that this is not the first occasion in the last few weeks. Given the fact that you've been allowed to date Naruto by your father, this assumption of Kiba is only logical," reasoned Shino who was carrying his own backpack as well as two heavy bags in his hands, just like his male teammate.

"Yeah, Hinata, you shouldn't be mad. We only wish you the best!" Kiba glanced at her over his shoulder and grinned jovially. "Anyhow, if it's not about Naruto being a sexual monster, then why are you so sleepy and tired lately? What do you even do these days? We hardly get to see you," he asked in a more neutral manner, sounding a little concerned and curious.

The girl was about to gasp at the question that wasn't unexpected yet still came rather suddenly, but her face remained more less impassive, and albeit it was something that could seem insignificant to a stranger who didn't know her, Hyūga was still very proud of this little achievement, because it was a great testament to her progress in training. After all, the kunoichi had never been very good at controlling her facial expressions and emotions. And now, she managed to do it somehow even in an uncomfortable situation where she was being teased by the two boys who'd known her almost throughout her entire life and thus couldn't be fooled easily.  
Her new teammates would be proud... probably.

"I just train a lot lately... That's all. There is nothing for you boys to worry about," she said genuinely as her lips curved into her usual soft and warm smile.

"Training, huh? But for what would you need to try so hard? I mean, look at yourself, you are about to faint." Kiba snorted, but there was no suspicious note in his voice, thankfully; she couldn't tell the same about Aburame, though, considering the long and thoughtful peer he gave her without saying anything.

"Oh–it's all about my heritage. Father told me that I have to become much stronger in the following year if I want to be able to marry Naruto-kun and remain in the clan at the same time," she half lied without thinking, recalling the talk she'd had with Hiashi a week ago.

What her father really had told her was that she would be forced to virtually leave the clan anyway unless she wanted to be branded and put in the Branch House, which she obviously didn't. However, he also told her to work harder on her skills and mastery as a ninja, though he'd never stated the exact reason why was it a such necessity all of sudden.  
Still, Hinata had no reason to complain or to question his will, so she just agreed – after all, training was exactly what she did every day recently, so it correlated with her plans perfectly. Although... to call what she was going through a simple 'training' would be a huge understatement.  
Because training under Uchiha Sasuke turned to be utter hell for her. Sure, she'd never imagined him as the compassionate type, but he was _absolutely_ merciless, never tolerating any sign of weakness in the members of their squad. And, actually, this was one of the few good things about him that she'd discovered so far – the man was truly fair and treated all of his subordinates absolutely equally when it came to their job, never showing any favoritism.

"Hm-m, I guess that's understandable. Well, training more can never hurt anyone, eh? Besides, the stronger you are the better. After all, we won't always be there to protect you!" Kiba chuckled, to which Hinata smiled politely again, but this time she felt a pinch of something bitter, and it was new as well as a bit bothersome – the slightest note of anger that ringed inside of her at his words.  
She was the one who was going to protect them, not the other way around... She didn't need anyone's patronage anymore.

"Who is your trainer?" suddenly asked Shino, and this time Hinata actually flinched, snapping out of her gloomy thought and turning to her friend.

"Uh... Sorry, I'm afraid I'm not allowed to reveal the identity. It's the Hokage's order," she said apologetically, smiling at her second teammate who looked away – it was hard to read his expression without her Byakugan activated considering that he wore those big dark glasses that hid the upper part of his face.

"Figured as much. It must be a really strong and experienced ninja to push you this hard, so it would make sense if it is a Root member or even someone from the upper echelons," mused the boy, taking a deep breath and gripping the bags in a more comfortable way, finally returning his attention to the path ahead and seemingly losing any interest in the conversation.

Hinata sighed in relief, lowering her eyes to the ground and mumbling quietly, more to herself than to her friends:

"Yes... He is incredibly strong."

And another good thing about Sasuke was his professionalism as well as his knowledge. Perhaps Uchiha was not the best teacher out there (probably even by far), but he definitely _knew_ what they needed to be taught. And he surely hadn't lied when he told them that he was leagues above them in basically everything. Next to their commander, Hinata and her fellows felt like some silly clueless genin level ninjas even when it came to elementary stuff the importance of which they'd always overlooked.

"Eh, that's a high praise considering that you date the strongest shinobi alive! I guess the dude is really good, then!" Kiba whistled.

"Uh...," Hinata frowned, giving Shino a careful glance. "In truth, I'm not sure how strong he really is. But I can tell for sure that he could beat all the three of us without any effort, Kiba-kun."

However, their pitiful level was quickly changing for the better. Either Sasuke was actually a far better teacher than he seemed to be, or they were very talented ninjas (which Hinata really doubted), but in any case, they were progressing very fast.

"No way! Is Hokage-sama teaching you himself?"

She almost chuckled at the ridiculous assumption.

"W-What? No-o-o! Of course not. Though... this person is close to Sixth-sama, in a way. And his training is good for me. So, please, don't worry about it. I've already learned a lot so far, and I've become stronger than before."

Well... not in Sasuke's opinion, certainly. Because he always was dissatisfied with their results, pushing them farther and further, up to their limits and even beyond them, pulling everything to extremes. That was exactly why Hinata barely got to sleep in the last few days – if she happened to get at least two hours to spend in her bed at night, she considered herself very lucky. Naturally, her body demanded for her to spend every minute at day time resting as much as possible, so she began to take naps everywhere she could... sometimes even on Naruto's shoulder when they visited the new cinema, or on Kiba's back like she'd just done.

"Ah, cool. I'm looking forward to seeing how strong you'll become when it's over, haha! We'll try to keep up with your might!"

She smiled painfully, not really having any energy or focus to listen to the boy's jabbering at this point anymore.  
Was there even any point to add that every cell of her body was now itching due to the pain and fatigue? Every night nowadays did she get covered with multiple bruises and scratches which Naruto healed every time with his mysterious Yang power, but the constant strain in her muscles was not going anywhere, so she still felt like a mess.  
Fortunately, her boyfriend didn't question her desire to train more even though he seemed to be quite concerned with her questionable condition. He respected and even admired her will to become a better kunoichi, and as for the reasons behind her wish, he'd never been that thoughtful to ask anyway... and although in any other case it would probably make her feel a bit sad, but this time it was definitely a good thing.  
Because she would hate to lie to _him_ , of all people, even though Hinata knew that it was inevitable and bound to happen at some point in the future regardless of her own wishes.

"Ugh, finally! Kurenai-sensei! We've come!" Kiba wiped the drops of sweat off his forehead, letting out a loud sigh and dropping the bags on the grass in front of the jōnin's brand new house, throwing his backpack right next to them and falling on his back the lawn, spreading his legs and arms in the way that his pose resembled a starfish, squinting and the warm rays of sun and panting.

Hinata sat next to him in a moment as well as Shino, hugging her knees. Kurenai showed up from the entrance of the building in a few seconds, smiling cheerfully at her former students and rushing to them.

"Oh, thank you very much, guys! You really have no idea how much you helped me here. We, retired ninjas, almost don't get payed anything these days, and with how low on money I currently am, I couldn't afford hiring somebody, so..." She lowered her eyes sadly in embarrassment as the woman came close to them, shaking her head.

"It's no problem, sensei! Come on, can you imagine us ever refusing to help you? Not happening!"

"He is right. We'd never do such thing," said Shino, pulling a bouquet of beautiful red flowers out of somewhere – Hinata couldn't remember him having it before, but she didn't care at the moment. "Happy housewarming, sensei." It was a rare occasion to see the introverted young man smiling at all, but his expressions were always genuine, so Hyūga smiled happily as well reflectively – it took her a few seconds to comprehend what he said, because their voices seemed to be distant now, echoing somewhere in the back of her consciousness.

"Yes. Congratulations, Kurenai-sensei," she uttered quietly, nodding.

"Thank you, thank you so much! You three are so lovely! Oh...," the older woman's dark red eyes narrowed at her which made Hinata return the gaze with caution and worry, looking at the blurry image of her face and shaking her head the next second, trying to focus.

"Hinata. What happened to you?"

The girl blinked a few times perplexedly.

"Uh... I'm sorry, sensei...?"

The woman rolled her eyes, sighing.

"You look like you haven't slept in days. Your face is paler than paper, and with these dark rings around your eyes, you resemble a panda. What are you doing with your health, silly girl? And, more importantly, why? Because if this is Naruto, I'm going to have a serious talk with your young man."

Hinata looked away, biting her lip.

"I... I'm training, sensei. It's nothing serious, but it is true that I don't get to sleep enough. Don't worry, I'm going to get some rest as soon as we are done helping you here, so–"

"No. You, young lady, are going home right now, and you will spend at least six hours to sleep and rest properly. Hinata, you really need it, trust my experienced eye. It will be no good for whatever training you are going through if you just faint out of exhaustion in the middle of a street or, even worse, in the middle of sparring."

"But–"

"No buts. Go and have some rest, Kiba and Shino will help me here meanwhile. Right, boys?"

They glanced at each other and shrugged simultaneously.

"Of course! What kind of question is that?" groaned Kiba.

"See?" The woman smiled. "No problem at all. If somebody asks, just tell your master that you've been helping me. I understand you took the whole day off the training schedule to do this anyway, am I right?"

Hinata nodded slowly, looking away shamefully. She really didn't fancy the idea of letting her old team down like this, but she couldn't deny that Kurenai's words were wise. No matter what Sasuke said, the girl doubted that she could stand it this way for much longer.

"Y-Yes... I guess you are correct."

"Then go and have some good rest right now. And when you have some free time, come to my place and tell me how things have been going, will you?" She blinked at the younger kunoichi and hugged her tightly like a mother would hug her beloved daughter. "Come on. Go now," she whispered, patting Hinata's cheek lightly, to which the girl smiled happily and nodded.

"Thank you so much, sensei... I will definitely visit you as soon as I can! And Mirai-chan, too! I miss her so much...! I–"

"Go already!" The woman laughed merrily, waving at the girl dismissively as she ran out through the humble wicket.

Hinata then rushed towards her clan's estate, but she stopped before she passed even a hundred yards, frowning.

Her father wouldn't approve of her sleeping midday. Besides, she'd already told him that she was going to spend the upcoming few hours on helping Kurenai. It would be suspicious if she came back now to lazy around... But what to do, then?  
The girl smirked, feeling the familiar warmth in her heart.  
Of course! How could she have forgotten that she virtually had another home now...? One that would one day, she hoped, become her main one...

The kunoichi turned around, running in the opposite direction. It didn't take her longer than a few minutes to reach Naruto's place, even though she tripped a couple times on her way and stumbled upon a few civilians, apologizing quickly before keeping running.  
She knocked at the door, really hoping that he'd be at home – as far as she was concerned, her boyfriend didn't have to go anywhere today, so he most likely was just resting inside, watching TV and lazying around himself. Unlike her, he could afford it...  
And, just as she'd predicted, the door opened in a few seconds, revealing the adorable sleepy face with the familiar cute whisker marks on the cheeks.

"Huh...? Hinata-chan? I thought you were going to be busy today... Oh! What the hell am I saying? Please, come in, but, eh... It's a bit messy inside," he smirked apologetically, scratching his nape and making a welcoming gesture with his unwrapped hand.

"Thank you, Naruto-kun. It's okay." She pecked his cheek quickly and walked in as he closed the door.

"So... What's up?" he asked simply, and this was one of the moments when she loved Naruto even more than she thought was possible – for how easy it always was with him. No unnecessary questions, no formalities, no boring explanations and hollow conversations. Right now, this was just what she needed the most. Someone who would understand everything without words.

"Uh... I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but... It's really hard to explain, but I'm very tired, and... I'm a bit afraid to go home at the moment, I think father would be mad at me. Would you mind it if I used your bedroom to take a nap...?" she gave him a pleading look, to which the boy smiled happily, nodding quickly a few times.

"Eh... Sure! I mean, of course you may stay here as much as you want! Actually, I'm not sure if it's appropriate to say such thing to a girl, but you really... ain't looking well," he came closer to her, hugging the kunoichi tightly as she immediately melted in his strong arms, feeling as her legs were becoming numb – she wasn't sure if it was caused by the fatigue or by the feelings his warmth raised in her heart.

"Thank you," she whispered thankfully, and Naruto kissed her softly on the lips, to which she responded with gratitude and love.

"You're welcome. I'll try not to be noisy, maybe I'll go and buy us something to eat for dinner meanwhile. Alright?"

"Sure," she shrugged and smiled, turning around and almost limping towards the bedroom, closing the door behind her back in a few seconds and sliding down to the tender carpet on the floor.

Looking around the small room, Hinata shook her head slightly, amazed by the blond's ability to create chaos even out of so few things he possessed. She'd only been to this room once before, and it was only for a few moments when they were looking for his ID card, but now she could study it thoroughly without any rush.  
There was nothing expensive around, of course. Even the bed itself looked very humble, as though Naruto'd taken it from some old barracks. Aside from the single nightstand and a big old wardrobe, there were only countless clothes scattered around the place – one of his t-shirts was even hung on the chandelier above the bed.  
Uzumaki surely was very ascetic, and this thing she respected and admired, but his slovenliness... Perhaps she would need to help him with that... eventually.  
Hinata smiled dreamily at the idea, crawling towards the bed and unbuttoning her jacket and taking off her skirt.  
It took her just a few moments to fall into the long awaited blissful oblivion.

 **-~o0o~-**

By the time she woke up, it was already completely dark behind the window, so Hinata found it hard to realize at first where she was. It was the first time in her life when she woke up in someone else's bed, and although the young Hyūga knew for sure that nothing inappropriate had happened to her, somehow she still felt a bit embarrassed when she sat up in Naruto's bed, realizing that she was only dressed in her knickers and the black t-shirt.

She then blushed even more when she remembered that she hadn't covered herself with the blanket, meaning that someone had come in while she was sleeping and took care of her. Which logically meant that Naruto had seen her in her underwear...

Feeling ashamed, embarrassed and excited by the idea at the same time, the kunoichi took a deep breath, trying to calm down. After all, he hadn't seen her completely naked... and was there something weird in a boy seeing his girlfriend with a bit less clothes on her than usual?  
Hardly.  
Which was why she, suddenly inspired by her own courage and perhaps, in the back of her mind, also wanting to play with Naruto a little bit, she lowered her legs on the floor slowly, stretching her back and yawning sweetly before getting up and walking towards the door.

Striding out of the bedroom, Hinata frowned a bit, unable to see the blond anywhere in the guest room – the TV was still on, though, and the lights were switched on, so he was probably at home, just in a different room.  
Therefore, looking around perplexedly and rubbing her sleepy eyes, Hyūga walked across the corridor to the kitchen from where she could smell the rather tasty flavor that made her stomach groan in hunger as the white eyes widened in surprise.

Was Naruto cooking...?  
She came closer to the door, opening it and walking in.

"Naruto-kun, I–" The girl stopped then, feeling like she was about to faint at the sight that made her want desperately to teleport to a very distant land for good... or just to die.

"Hey, Hyūga." Sasuke's face remained as impassive as always as he leaned against the back of his chair, shuffling cards with his hands and eyeing her up and down before adding, "Naruto should be right back."

"Oy, teme! I'm gonna kick your ass now for sure, you'll see! Oh–Hinata-chan? Finally, you're awake! Uh..." She turned around, looking at Uzumaki who lowered his eyes slowly, looking appreciatively at her long bare legs. "I–I think you forgot to dress up, eh–"

The girl felt her heart skipping a beat or two. Never before in her life had she felt so embarrassed and intimidated, with two men staring at her half naked body in such an awkward situation, especially with one of them being someone who seemed to have a habit of constantly makeing fun of her and of berating her, too.

"I think it's fine," said Uchiha. "This way, our little party is at least not as dubious as it seemed to be. Now, this at least distantly resembles the way two straight men should spend their evening," Sasuke smirked, sipping the bamboo beer out of the big glass cup.

"Teme...! Turn away and stop looking at her before I beat the crap out of you!" groaned Naruto, stepping forward and standing between his girlfriend and his friend.

Uchiha shrugged and rolled his eyes depreciatingly.

"And _you,_ of all people, told me that I lack sense of humor. The irony. There is not much to look at anyway."

"Sasuke–!"

Hinata yelped, unable to withstand it anymore and rushing back to the bedroom, slamming the door in a second and panting heavily, covering her face with her hands and whimpering.  
This was awful... She made a clown out of herself in their eyes. And, of course, Uchiha had to mock her right away...  
She growled quietly, suppressing the upcoming tears and hitting the door behind her back with her hand in frustration.  
This man was just unbearable! So indignant and rude...! And at the same time, absolutely unpredictable in his behavior, completely unreadable...

Sometimes, she almost felt like she could relate to him in many ways. For instance, during their training, Hinata always understood everything he told her and taught her before he would even finish the sentence...  
And whenever they sparred, it felt like dancing with someone who could break her like a mere chopstick without any effort – it was both very exciting and impossibly dangerous. She felt like a child playing with fire, but Hinata still loved every moment of it, she just couldn't help it. It made her feel so alive.  
In fact, it was only partly the truth that he forced her to train so much. Yes, he insisted on spending as much of her time as possible on working on her skills, but in truth... she loved every moment of it. Sometimes, Hinata felt like she was slowly becoming addicted to working out, because the notable changes in her made her feel the happiness of the degree comparable only to being with Naruto.

Unfortunately, it seemed that only in these rare moments did she like being around Sasuke. Because other than that, it seemed like she just couldn't stand Uchiha's arrogant face... the face that didn't seem so arrogant or any evil at night for some reason.

"Hey... Hinata-chan, are you there?" The quiet knock on the door made her flinch, shifting her head to the side slowly.

"Y-Yes...," she almost whispered, suddenly feeling sick. Why was this all making her feel so bad...? No tragedy had happened anyway, now that she'd calmed down and was able to rationalize it. So what if Sasuke had seen her in her underwear? So what if he said a few of his usual sarcastic comments about her...?  
Nothing unusual for a bunch of adults they were.  
Yet still...

"Uh... Can we talk? I mean, I understand that Sasuke is a douchebag sometimes, but he didn't mean to offend you. It's just the way he is, you know. Please... Don't be upset, will ya?"

She took a deep breath, closing her eyes. Naruto was right, Sasuke was just... Sasuke. By this moment, she'd known him enough to realize that this was just his common way of talking to people outside work – he was impolite and sarcastic, but whatever he said in such manner usually wasn't meant to harass anyone specifically, because he simply didn't care about anyone around him enough to bother with such things. Besides, whenever he really wanted to put someone in their place, he was completely different...  
She'd witnessed it herself. He didn't talk at all at such times.

"I–I'll be fine, Naruto-kun. I'm s-sorry... I simply wasn't ware that he was here, so I didn't think about dressing up before coming out. Just–just give me some time... ne?"

There was a short pause before she heard him drawling doubtfully:

"Okay... I guess. We'll be in the kitchen. I cooked some pizza for the three of us, so if you feel hungry... Anyway, take your time. Love you!"

She smiled.

"Yes... Thank you. I love you, too."

Hinata heard him walk away, and it made her feel the strange relief. Usually, the girl wasn't very fond of complete solitude, but now was probably an exception, because she truly required some time to think. She needed to understand what was wrong with her mind... And to make it up.

The kunoichi sat down on the floor in the lotus pose, closing her eyes and beginning to meditate, trying to calm herself and deepening into her thought.

Naruto... the way he made her feel in this situation was the easiest one to comprehend. She'd wanted some time alone with her boyfriend for once, and just when she'd finally received such opportunity, he brought his best friend to his house while she was there, too. Naturally, it made her feel jealous and quite upset – she wasn't sure if the word 'mad' would ever apply to him coming from her.

But was it really that unexpected for him to do so? After all, Sasuke wasn't around very often. Even though he remained in Konoha, the raven haired ninja rarely showed up to his friend and to anyone else aside from their ANBU squad at nights. Clearly, Naruto missed him, and the girl knew that he also wanted to help the Uchiha to adapt to the life in the village somehow – they'd discussed it before.

On top of all this... She'd been asleep. Hinata realized that it would be too selfish to blame Naruto for inviting Sasuke to his home when he had nothing to do on his day off. And the fact that he'd somehow miraculously managed to convince his friend to spend some time like guys of their age normally did... it was impressive to say the least.

And Sasuke himself... If she even understood a single thing about the usually gloomy and silent man, he was trying hard this evening to show his appreciation of the jinchūriki's efforts. He was unusually chatty and playful, now that she recalled their brief conversation... Or perhaps this was the real Uchiha that had always been there behind the mask he used to protect his heart?

She bit her lip, suddenly feeling the strange curiosity. Perhaps... Maybe Uchiha Sasuke wasn't such a bad person, after all. Even though their philosophies were different, she now shared a lot of his views on life, the village and the world, so... what if...  
What if she gave it a chance? And more importantly...

Her eyes widened at the long awaited realization of the reason that'd made her feel so uneasy.  
No, it wasn't the situation itself... It was because she realized that this accident was a mere demonstration of what was to come. If she wouldn't change her attitude towards Uchiha soon, considering the relationships Naruto had with her and him, such situations would likely happen often in the future. Perhaps even worse things would...

Hinata shook her head and clenched her fists.

This was unfair. Did she even have a choice...? Everything that'd been happening to her lately was pushing her to the necessity of befriending this man. They would need to be on friendly terms as team members, that was out of the question; they would also require an explanation for their interaction outside the squad, because realistically, it would definitely happen at some point and thus would raise questions from those who didn't know about their job.

And finally, without Sakura, she was currently the only one who was capable of becoming the uniting link between the two friends. Hinata did realize the vitality of their relationship for themselves, for Konoha and even for the entire world. And was she ready to take the responsibility for being the one who would cause them to drift apart...?

And because of what? Due to her own selfish whim to stay away from the rare person that raised conflicted feelings in her heart? Someone who, now that she thought about it, simply forced her out of her comfort zone whenever they encountered? Was this even a bad thing, what he did to her...? Or was it rather the sole reason that drove her to improving herself...?

"Hyūga," the familiar voice from behind the door made her flinch and slowly open her eyes.

"S-Sasuke-san...?"

"Yeah. Be quiet, I don't want Naruto to hear us."

She frowned.

"B-But why...?"

She could hear him sigh.

"Just shut up and listen. Naruto may be an idiot, but he is a shrewd idiot. If you don't want him to figure out what you do at nights, I highly advise you to stop being a sissy and to come out as soon as possible. I don't like you either, but I can at least pretend to be civilized around you for the sake of our cover. Surely, you should be able to do the same. You are not a twelve years old genin, are you?"

The kunoichi swallowed, listening to his unusually soft voice.

Was this really the only thing he cared about...? Or perhaps this was just the bizarre way of him actually trying to be nice to her?  
The girl smiled at the idea. Yes, Uchiha Sasuke definitely wasn't such a bad person, then. He had his flaws just like everyone else, but... ultimately, he was just a very tired and disappointed man.

Perhaps... if she'd become his friend... Together with Naruto, they'd be able to convince him that he still had reasons to live.  
That their world wasn't completely hopeless...  
That there was still light to look up to.

"Whatever. Make haste, or the idiot will start thinking that it's a big deal."

She could hear him walk away, and then Hinata smiled happily as she finally felt like her mind and heart were in peace.

It shouldn't be so hard, she decided. No matter how powerful he was, Sasuke was still a human, just like all of them. And if she showed him the kindness and compassion he seemed to be so unfamiliar with... Perhaps she'd be able to make his icy heart melt. To make him see that he still had people who cared for him and who could share his pain... Who understood him.

The kunoichi put her pants and her jacket on, not bothering to button it, and walked out of the room, slowly approaching the kitchen once again.

"He-e-ey, Hinata-chan! Welcome back! Please, take a seat!" Naruto pulled another chair towards the table, making a welcoming gesture and putting a plate with a slice of deliciously looking pizza in front of his girlfriend as she settled down, glancing carefully at Sasuke who counted out five cards and handed them to her.

"Are you playing?" She met the neutral gaze of his black eye, suddenly feeling unusually courageous and comfortable in his presence – perhaps for the first time ever.

"S-Sure," she smiled, taking the cards from his hand.

Naruto smirked, raising his cup with beer and whistling joyfully.

"Now that's what I call a party!"

* * *

 **Usually, it is not very hard to get under the shell of a person who suffered a lot of traumatic events in the past, especially if you have figured out the way to do it. The question is, are you sure that you would like what you would have to face there?**

 **See you in the next chapter: The First Mission!**


	8. The First Mission

**ATTENTION! To see the update from the 23rd of March, please check out Chapter 1 of this story! It's awaiting you there! :P**

Author's Note: long story short, me and my newfound co-author (who also happens to be my beta and my good friend) decided to add a prologue to make a few things clear to new readers, seeing as some of you guys sill confuse this with a NaruHina story or something like that. The prologue is a flash-forward to a moment that is set ~1 year after chapter 1, and we made sure to make it entertaining! Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 7. The First Mission**

"A-ah, what a wonderful flavor! Makes me feel so hungry-tebayo...!"

 _ **What? Don't tell me it's about your shitty ramen again, brat. Or else I'll rip you to shreds, I swear!**_

"Nah! Actually, it reminds me of Hinata-chan's cooking. Man, I'd so love to grab some of her bakery right now...," drawled Naruto dreamily, locking his hands on his nape as he strode unhurriedly through the peaceful night street of his village.

 _ **Geez, thank the creator. I was about to believe that you are completely retarded, after all.**_

Uzumaki chuckled jovially at his friend.

"Nah. Not completely. Don't worry, fur ball."

 _His_ village... The jinchūriki had yet to become the Hokage, and he knew that there was still a very long road ahead on the way to his goal, but the young man simply couldn't, and neither did he want to get rid of this pleasant and, at the same time, pretty heavy feeling. This sensation of being responsible for this place and for everyone around... It just couldn't be compared to anything else.

 _ **That's still highly debatable, you moron.**_

"Eh? How so?" he mumbled lazily, looking around himself and appreciating the lovely sight.

The view of his home... His dream, and his deepest love. Konoha was his everything, and it'd been this way for his parents, too, as well as for all of his friends and his idols. Naturally, being as powerful as Naruto was, and knowing that he was going to lead them all one day, he felt proud about it and, at the same time, also quite concerned.

Would he be able to succeed as the next Hokage? Was he actually good enough for this sacred tittle? From what he'd witnessed so far, the job was far more demanding and hard than he'd always imagined. It required a lot of skill and intelligence, and now he knew that leading a Hidden Village wasn't just about being the most powerful ninja out there.

No, it took far more than just that...

 _ **Because at this rate, you're gonna stay a virgin forever. Why waste all of your time on stupid ass missions that can be done by any amateur instead of taking care of your girlfriend or doing something useful? You haven't seen her in a few days, and she's probably pretty damn upset with you idiot.**_

The blond winced slightly, lowering his hands.

"Oi, my job is very important! And besides, since when are you my personal organizer? I can take care of my personal live by myself, thank you!" he shrieked aloud, silently appreciating the lack of people around to watch the weird and rather intimate scene.

Kurama had a point, of course. Unfortunately, Naruto didn't get to spend much time with his beloved Hinata nowadays, because both of them were quite busy – he worked and educated himself to become a better leader in the future, and she... Well, she spent all of her time on training herself, and even though Naruto failed to realize why she needed to work out so much, he still respected her will to become a better ninja, so he didn't object it in any way.

 _ **Since forever, really. I'll always keep reminding you how stupid your empty head is.**_

"Hm-m," Naruto scratched his chin, stopping at the crossroads and looking to his left. "What time is it, organizer-chan?"

 _ **Very funny, shithead. A bit past midnight, I guess. Can't say more precisely.**_

Uzumaki smirked, nodding to himself and turning towards the district of the village that'd become very familiar to him in the last few months.

"I guess it should be fine if I burst into Hinata-chan's place now, don't you think so? She shouldn't be training at the moment, it's too late for that... So, I could at least tell her that I'm back from the mission and we could plan something together for tomorrow. Oh, by the way, tell me, is she in the village right now? Would suck if she got sent out for a mission while I was away," he scowled, not wanting to disrupt the atmosphere by entering one of his chakra modes just to spot Hinata on his own – he knew that it could be very unpleasant and disturbing to any sensory type ninjas around, especially at night when they were asleep, so he preferred to never do it inside the village without a very strong necessity.

 _ **Yeah, she is. Don't bother me now, I wanna take a nap. Talking to you is too taxing, I feel as though I'm becoming an idiot myself.**_

Naruto smiled at his friend's grumpy line, knowing that Kurama never really minded helping him, but, for some reason, still felt a bit shy about it.

"Not that I'd want to, eh. I got someone else to bother now, y'know!"

He laughed and stormed towards the Hyūga estate, reaching the always neat and strict looking place in no time – after all, even without enhancing his body with a special chakra, the only person that could rival the blue eyed shinobi's speed was his best friend, Sasuke.

The estate was guarded by a few ninjas from Hinata's clan, who instantly recognized him, nodding to the blond cheerfully and letting him enter the territory with no questions. Walking slowly as he payed some respect to the clan's members who could already be asleep, the young ninja walked up the cobblestone road towards the entrance to the main building, suddenly feeling a bit uncomfortable as he noticed Hyūga Hiashi, Hinata's father, sitting in the rocking chair on the vast wooden terrace to the right of him, just a few yards away.

"Uh, hello, Hyūga old man–ugh, I mean, Hiashi-san," he smirked at the brown haired man who looked away from the book he was reading, putting the cup of tea aside and eyeing Naruto up and down before nodding dryly.

"Greetings, Uzumaki-kun."

Naruto came closer to him, bowing in respect courtly.

"Eh, well... I came to see Hinata-chan, if possible. I've just returned from a mission, and we haven't seen each other in a few days, so..." He paused, feeling a bit awkward while talking to his superior and to his supposed future father-in-law, just as per usual whenever they interacted.

"Hm... I see," said the man neutrally, returning his gaze to the book. "I'm afraid it's not possible at the moment, young man. My older daughter is quite busy right now."

The jinchūriki winced in displeasure and grumbled indignantly:

"Busy? With what, eh? Isn't she supposed to rest already? It's pretty late, isn't it? I seriously think she's overdoing it..."

The impassive white eyes met his saddened blue ones again, and the man replied slowly after a short pause:

"She is going through a very important training session, and I'm afraid it will keep her busy for a few more hours. When she is done, I'm fairly sure that she will be so exhausted to only have the energy to reach her bedroom. As far as I know, however, she has a day off tomorrow, so feel free to come here first thing in the morning. I'm sure she will be more than happy to see you." He gave Naruto a small polite smile before turning away again, indicating that the conversation was over.

"Damn it...," muttered the blond more to himself rather than to the older ninja, turning away and walking towards the gates.

He'd have to ask his girlfriend why was she pushing herself so hard, after all. This was getting slightly annoying.

 **-~o0o~-**

 _Step..._

The familiar creeping darkness was surrounding her just like the last time, except now it wasn't terrifying at all.

 _Step..._

She could make it. She knew she could. And the darkness was her greatest ally at the moment. She herself was but a looming shadow now... nothing more.

 _Step..._

It shouldn't be so hard. Everyone else had exactly the same task, and nobody ever complained. She wasn't weaker than them, was she...? At least her will definitely wasn't, or so she believed.

 _Step..._

She just had to be careful and accurate, that's all. No matter how good or bad she actually was, she most definitely was capable of executing this simple and clear order.

 _Step..._

After all, this was just a genin in front of the white eyed kunoichi right now. This girl was absolutely no match for her, especially being so young – probably not older than fifteen. Even the pose she'd taken in the wooden chair indicated clearly that this child was very inexperienced, most likely having graduated already after the Great War.

 _Step._

Hinata stopped, holding her breath and looking around the small, dark placement.

With her Byakugan long activated, she'd already known that there was nobody else inside this room on top of the high, stone watchtower, but the dark haired girl still wanted to take every precaution she could, terribly afraid to fail her teammates in any possible way. And that could very easily happen considering that the timing needed to be perfect in order for their mission to be a success.

In short, there were four identical watchtowers placed around the small yet quite rich settlement in the Land of Wind, each guarded by three ninjas – two down below and one here, on the very top. Taking down the guardians at the tower's entrance hadn't been any difficult for Hyūga – they were mere chūnins of Sunagakure, even though both of them were at least twice her age. And although Hinata wasn't as strong as some of her peers, she was still an experienced jōnin nevertheless.  
And besides, the darkness was on her side this night, after all.

Anyhow, all these towers were used by the local garrison to watch the sky above the settlement, easily covering the range of the entire basin this way. Ever since the Kazekage's abduction by Akatsuki about five years ago, Suna's ninjas payed a lot of attention when it came to securing their air space, which was no wonder considering how blatant and devastating that attack had been.

According to their plan, Hinata, Ino, Tenten and Sasuke were supposed to neutralize each observer simultaneously while Suigetsu would give them the signal – basically, the swordsman had to make some noise by bluntly attacking the main gate alone, and then allow the guardians to seize him, causing as much diversion and chaos as possible at the same time. This would let Sai safely fly over the walls right towards the beautiful and magnificent palace in the very core of the settlement – the place where the current Land of Wind's Daimyō's fiancee was preparing for the upcoming wedding.

Basically, their mission implied capturing the woman and bringing her to Konoha. According to the Hokage, the Daimyō of the Land of Fire wasn't quite pleased with this marriage, so he wanted this poor civilian princess to be delivered to him for the following... negotiations, whatever they meant by that term – this wasn't really ANBU's concern anyway, so Hinata preferred not to think about it.

This was a pretty simple B-rank mission, because, apparently, Sunagakure wasn't aware of any plotting against their feudal lord, especially coming from the Leaf who were well known as their loyal allies. And as nasty and backstabbing as Hinata and her teammates might find this move, a mission was still a mission. They had received clear orders, and this required to be done – so far, she'd learned this much about the simplicity of the way ANBU functioned.

That's why the young Hyūga didn't have any hard feelings when they approached this place, ruthlessly killing everyone who spotted them despite these people probably being innocent and, even worse, most definitely being their allies. Just a few weeks ago, the sole idea of performing a carnage like this this would've been absolutely disgusting to her. But now, she realized that, after all, somebody had to do the dirty job. If not her, then it would've been another ninja of her age, or even someone younger. Perhaps even her own little sister...

But, at the end of the day, it didn't really matter _who_ executed orders – the only relevant thing about it was that Hyūga Hinata had come to realize that the fear of dirtying her hands with other people's blood, be they innocent or not, was just a very hypocrite, arrogant, immature and selfish position, and a ninja simply couldn't possibly afford it.

And she was a kunoichi of Konohagakure; moreover she was an ANBU, so it was _her_ job to do. Naturally, she was supposed to execute it without any doubts or complains, just like her comrades did. There was nothing more to it, and there was no place for mercy in her heart when she killed these people. After all, regardless of Hinata's own feelings, without even realizing it themselves... Since the very day they were born, these people had already been sentenced to become victims of the likes of their Daimyō who had the authority to seal their fate on their whims every day, as though they were gods.

That's how the current system worked.

 _Step...  
_  
Hinata gripped the kunai in her hand tighter, standing now just two yards behind the other girl who was half sitting in her chair, having put her legs on the old, dusty sill and watching the night sky lazily with a dreamy expression on her face, as if counting the stars just not to fall asleep on duty.

She probably had family. Friends. A love interest... Yes, Hyūga was very familiar with this languishing look. The girl was most definitely in love... So full of hopes, dreams and ambitions for the future...

And all of them were ending here, tonight. Hinata would be the one to put this child out of her misery.

The ANBU swallowed, afraid to make a sound as she raised her hand slowly – the girl still didn't react.

After all, this was the very essence of the world they all lived in, no less. Somebody must do nasty things in order for others to be able to keep living in the dazzlingly bright light of their own illusions... And Hinata'd spent more than ample time bathing in this very light for it to be any fair of her to remain there, in this warm and comfy place under the sun, any longer.

It was now her turn to go into shadows.

And just as the white eyed kunoichi's slight hesitation vanished, she heard a loud explosion right behind the gates to the north from her, which made the girl in front of Hinata lower her legs immediately, jumping up from her place and leaning out of the window.

And this was the time.

With a quick and accurate slice, Hinata cut the other kunoichi's throat from behind, holding the child's mouth closed with her left hand so that she wouldn't let out a sound – perhaps it wasn't really necessary considering the fuss Suigetsu had just caused, drawing the entire town's attention, but this was still the way she'd been taught by Uchiha Sasuke. And she needed to become a perfect ninja now, just like he wanted them all to be, so she didn't dare to take any chances.

The fragile body in Hinata's embrace went limp shortly, and she lowered it down on the floor slowly, closing the girl's scared eyes with a silent prayer on her paled lips, pleading to whatever gods could hear her out there so that this sacrifice would not go in vain.

But then, in a few seconds, Hinata got up, focusing her enhanced vision on the sky above and nodding to herself with relief a moment later – _there_ he was. Sai, flying on his huge conjured eagle straight towards the palace.

So, they hadn't failed this part, at least.

Looking carefully across the town for the last time to make sure that nobody had noticed their infiltration, the young woman jumped out of the window, readjusting the mask on her face and rushing towards the rendezvous point – basically, sewers, which she found a bit ironical considering how often did she have come to such places lately.  
But, on the other hand, perhaps this was exactly the kind of place all of them deserved...

It didn't take her long to reach the hidden entrance, although Hinata scorned herself mutely for being the last to come there – she still needed to do a lot of work on her speed.

"So? Anything to report?" asked Sasuke casually, giving her a curious glance with his crimson red eye through the sole hole in his mask that resembled a cat's face – the formerly existing second hole had been carefully smeared with white clay.

Unlike theirs, Uchiha's mask itself looked quite old and had a few small cracks on it, which often made his subordinates wonder why didn't he pick himself a new one, but nobody dared to question it, of course. They had already learned first hand just how much did he dislike any intrusions into his personal space.

"Everything has gone accordingly, nothing unexpected," she reported in a quiet and collected voice, stopping next to Tenten and Ino and straightening her back.

"Good," Sasuke nodded approvingly. "Now, our task is trivial, we should be done in five minutes, not more. Hyūga, pinpoint the exact location of our target right now. Tenten, you go ahead first. Eliminate every threat on your way without getting noticed. Make sure that there is no alert, capture the target and bring her up to the roof as soon as possible."

"The target is on the third floor, fifth room to the left from the stairs that are the nearest to us," said Hinata monotonically.

"Understood," the brown haired kunoichi disappeared with a Body Flicker Jutsu.

"Now, pinpoint the location of Suigetsu," demanded Uchiha.

Hinata looked around, almost instantly spotting the white haired young man – he was caged not far away from them, currently being interrogated by a few ninjas down in the dungeon just in the opposite wing of the building, which the girl reported to Uchiha the same second.

"Fine," he nodded again, "Ino, go after him. Proceed to the roof together as soon as you set him free. Be stealthy, what I said to Tenten applies to all of you, obviously."

"Will do!" The blonde saluted cheerfully and disappeared as well.

"Now then," muttered Sasuke, gripping Hinata's hand. "We'll clear the way to the escape point. Which room is safe for us to pop in?"

"There," she pointed with her finger in a moment, "Fifty eight yards away."

Already having gotten used to his abrupt way of performing the space-time ninjustu, Hyūga didn't visibly react when they reappeared in the dark, empty room that clearly hadn't been used by anyone in weeks, coming close to the door together and stopping next to it.

"Anybody outside?" asked Sasuke, not bothering to even touch his sword and clearly feeling completely relaxed and secure.

"No," she shook her head slowly, looking around right through the thick walls. "This floor is almost completely empty. There are... a few people in some bedrooms, but they all seem to be asleep. I don't think we'll awaken them."

"Fine. Let's go. I want you to watch both Tenten and Yamanaka carefully meanwhile and report their progress to me. I'll take care of any threats on our way, so don't get distracted," he ordered, to which she only nodded.

"Understood." After all, it was to be expected that he wanted to know how his subordinates would perform their tasks, so Hinata wasn't any surprised.

As they walked slowly through the long, rich looking passages and stairs of the palace, Hyūga tried her best to follow Tenten and Ino simultaneously with her eyes, which wasn't very easy considering that she had to look in the opposite directions at the same time. Fortunately, Sasuke liquidated every guard on their way effortlessly – ninja or not – by simply putting them into a Sharingan genjutsu.

Yes, unlike them, he barely killed anybody. And this was actually another way of him disciplining and strengthening them, Hinata realized. Every other member of the team was basically forced to kill everyone in whom they couldn't be sure that they wouldn't reveal any information about their group and their identities afterwards. Naturally, aside from Uchiha himself, Ino was the only one capable of erasing one's memories, but it usually took her much time for the blonde to bother using her clan's secret technique. Therefore, all of them except Sasuke had to slay a lot of people on their way, whereas the shinobi himself rarely even injured anyone, preferring to just play with their minds instead. Oddly enough, someone like him deliberately avoided causing unnecessary damage...

Whether it was him mocking them, or he simply tried to motivate his teammates to improve their willpower as well as their skills so that they would stop getting noticed at all, but it definitely _did_ motivate Hinata to work out harder and to learn more. Because despite her aloof and indifferent attitude when it came to this relatively new job, the girl still felt awful about what she had to do. The fact that she realized that all of it was necessary didn't make her inner torment any easier...

She snapped out of her thought, gripping Sasuke's elbow reflectively as they walked up the stairs towards the top of the building, which made him turn to her and give the girl a slightly surprised glare.

"What is it?"

She pursed her lips nervously.

"Ino-san... T-They captured her."

Hinata could swear that she heard him cursing quietly under the mask.

"And Tenten?"

"Ano... She's coming, together with the target. It looks like she sedated the princess with a poisoned senbon."

"Anybody on her way?"

Hinata shook her head.

"No, nobody at all."

Sasuke nodded then.

"I see. Wait for her here, and when she comes, proceed to the roof all together. I'll go and retrieve the other two."

"Uh... Understood."

But before Sasuke would disappear just like he always did whenever he used his left eye's power, Hinata could feel the immense wave of chakra suddenly coming out of his body in a breathtaking burst, almost blinding her – the girl even had to deactivate her Byakugan to prevent her eyes from getting seriously damaged.

"W-What...?" she gasped, feeling the desperate urge to take her mask off and rub her face.

So, this was the power of his other dōjutsu. Now, she could finally see why he'd told them that Naruto was the only person in the entire world who could possibly rival him. Until now, never could the girl had imagined just how strong and potent his chakra truly was...

And this was another frightening thing about him.

"I've put everyone inside the palace under my genjutsu, aside from our team, obviously. Listen now... We will not report _this_ to the Hokage. To him, our mission is obviously a success. But just between our group's members, this is a failure. If not for my Rinnegan, we'd all have been doomed now."

She understood what he meant. Even though they would most likely have been able to escape in this case, it would be merely a matter of time before Kazekage and this country's Daimyō would find out who was behind this attack. And this would definitely mean a war, no less... And it would've been their fault, on top of everything.

So, he was right. This was a failure indeed.

"I get it," she replied quietly, nodding to Uchiha who, she reckoned, had to be pleased and slightly surprised with her answer – the young woman knew that he hated explaining things which in his opinion were obvious. Unfortunately, he had to do this pretty often while dealing with them.

"Good. I'm going."

He disappeared, and Hinata let out a long, heavy sigh, leaning against the wall and hugging herself, trying to suppress the increasing tremor.

This was still a bit too hard for her. Not that she ever wavered somehow in the face of a struggle, no. In anyone's presence, she didn't allow herself to show any weakness. But whenever she was left alone, the entire gargantuan mass of her feelings fell upon her, almost making the girl crumble.

It turned out that the darkness Sasuke'd shown her was, in fact, merely the pinnacle of the iceberg, exactly like he'd told her. Everything with their own village, with the system of Hidden Villages itself, and with their entire world seemed to be very wrong. Wherever the girl went, she could now see the endless corruption and ugliness she'd always overlooked...

But at the same time, she could also see the remaining dim rays of the light of hope in those people who still believed in good. Who _were_ good and pure, just like her own beloved boyfriend. Yes, they were very naive and usually completely ignorant, just like she'd been not so long ago, and there were only so many of them out there, and perhaps most of them simply refused to accept the truth out of fear in the face of this desperation Hyūga was feeling now... But this was their only way to save themselves from the inevitable madness caused by this darkness she was going to fight to her last breath. And even if she would lose this fight eventually... Hinata would still at least try to protect them from the horrible truth.

 _This_ was her ninja way now.

"Hey... where is the captain?" suddenly asked Tenten, snapping her teammate out of her thought and making her flinch at the sight of the older woman who was carrying the unconscious princess.

"Uh...," she cleared her throat, trying to sound neutrally. "S-Sasuke-san went to rescue Ino-san and Suigetsu-san."

Tenten sighed, shaking her head.

"A failure, then...?"

Hinata nodded distantly, looking away.

"Yes..."

Yes, she did realize that her decision was far from being fair. Quite in fact, this was very low of her to choose this shady path of lying and living a double life, and she realized it clearly, too.

But...

Was there even any choice to begin with?

If this system really couldn't possibly be taken down, then what would be the point in them ever finding out? Sasuke was right about this specific thing, she now realized. By staying oblivious, they could at least keep enjoying their lives and the fragile peace they all praised so much without knowing its real cost.  
At least some of them could...

She smiled to herself sadly.

Yes, the lucky ones.

Without a single sound, the rest of their teammates bar Sai appeared in the passage soon, with Sasuke pointing at the stairway grimly with a quick nod.

"Let's go. We're returning to the village."

And if it was, contrary to what Uchiha believed, actually possible to change everything for the better, then Hinata would definitely pay every single thing she had to make it happen. Including her own life and soul, for the sake of those she loved and what she believed in.

And also...

She eyed Sasuke's back up and down thoughtfully, suddenly realizing the precise extent of this man's tremendous pain.

Having lost everything he'd ever had – his clan, his family, his village and, ultimately, himself – Uchiha Sasuke certainly didn't believe that there was any hope left for their world, which was only natural under these circumstances.

However...

Was he truly damaged beyond repair? Was there really no return for him? Was he truly completely implacable...?

Hinata frowned under her mask and bit her lip thoughtfully, almost tripping as the unexpected idea suddenly hit her mind.

Even though he'd made it very clear that their newfound friendship – between herself, him and Naruto, that is, – was merely a way to conceal the truth regarding their night work, it seemed to her that the shinobi'd genuinely enjoyed the night he'd spent with them at Naruto's place, chilling and playing cards together. And although Hyūga realized that he was, without a doubt, a perfect ninja, certainly capable of acting flawlessly, her guts still told her relentlessly that this couldn't be entirely an act. He _had_ enjoyed their company, and even though he'd hardly shown any positive emotions back then, the girl was attentive enough to notice it due to the non-verbal signals his body sent. By the way how much attention and effort he payed to the game, and by how unusually talkative he was with Naruto, and, in a way, with her, too, even though he mostly just mocked and teased her...

Therefore... maybe it was another thing she had to do? To bring him back to them not only physically, like Naruto had done, but his soul, too... After all, not only had Sasuke deserved it, having suffered everything he'd gone through, but also for the sake of the village. This man would be an invaluable asset to all of them, no doubt.

Not to mention just how much Naruto would appreciate it, too...

She smiled to herself, taking a deep breath of the refreshing night air as they came out to the roof.

Yes, she definitely had to at least make an attempt. She had to try to show Uchiha Sasuke that there was still some light around, that not everything was lost for this twisted and cruel world. That he wasn't quite alone in the fight against this darkness.

That there was a place under the sun for him, too...

"That's enough."

And then Hinata gasped, losing control over her body and suddenly finding herself lying on the wet grass, staring at the the vast expanse of the inky night sky covered with countless shining stars, bathed in the dim moonlight.

"What...?" she whispered to herself, finding it hard to get up and flinching as she heard the familiar moans all around herself.

 _Of course..._

"It wasn't as awful as the last time, and some of you performed decently. But, you all have failed as a team nonetheless. Here comes your punishment."

The almost unbearable pain flashed through Hinata's entire body, making her feel as though every single cell of hers was being incinerated with Sasuke's inextinguishable black flames. It'd only lasted for a few seconds before the feeling was completely gone, and the girl found herself crouching on the training ground this time, hugging her knees tightly as the anguished cry died out in her throat, replaced with heavy, husky panting.

"This is not acceptable. This was a very easy mission, and yet still you've managed to fail it," Sasuke walked around them slowly, making Hinata wince angrily as she saw his feet stopping next to her.

"Yamanaka, explain yourself," he suddenly demanded, and the dark haired kunoichi sighed in relief – at least it wasn't her this time.

"I... I panicked," mumbled the blonde, "I know I wasn't supposed to, but... There was a jōnin from Suna, someone I know from the War. And he recognized me! I felt dazed when he called out my name, and hence let him disarm me, and–"

"Like I said, this is unacceptable. You are currently the weakest link in this team. Everyone else has done their parts of the plan properly."

Hinata shifted her head slightly to the side, watching as Ino raised up on her shaking legs and nodded meekly at Sasuke's words.

"I understand, Sasuke-taichō. I'll do my best to improve myself. This won't happen again, I swear!"

"Yes, it better not. The next time you fail like this, I'll just kill you and request a replacement," he snapped mercilessly, striding forward and leaving Hyūga's side to the girl's further relief.

"The sideshow is over. This was merely another simulation, but we are going for real missions starting from the next week. You've had more than ample time training under my Tsukuyomi, so if you are still incapable of getting your job done properly, you do not belong in this squad. Understood?"

"Yes...," Hinata uttered alongside everyone else, gripping the soil and the grass in front of her and trying to get up.

Sasuke was right, of course. Albeit they'd been training for a mere month in real world by now, but inside of his genjutsu, the flow of time was completely different. By using this unorthodox method, he'd managed to extend the time of their training artificially, and although none of them was sure exactly how much time had they spent in the illusionary world, to the dark haired girl, it felt like at least half a year, no less.

"Good," the shinobi nodded, still looking very dissatisfied. "Tomorrow is a day off. Take some time to get a hang of yourselves, and come prepared on Monday. For a time, your training schedule is over."

* * *

 **It is very easy to deceive someone who is willing to trust you for whatever reason they might have. A mere substitution of concepts here and there, a couple double standards to reassure the person and strengthen their resolve, and the job is done – you have an ideal puppet. It is even easier to do this when your lies are, in fact, only half lies, when you merely make shadows look a bit darker than they really are, covering the lonely rays of light with your own back.  
Except humans are not puppets. No matter how much you may fool them, they still have their free will and mind. And even if you've managed to deceive them, their reaction to the false truth can be very surprising, and sometimes, not in a good way.**

 **See you in the next chapter: An Awkward Date!**


End file.
